Chapter Text
In front of me stood a figure. It was large, taller than me. My eyes were having a hard time focusing on it because of the rain. And the concussion. At least I assumed I had a concussion, a safe assumption after getting beaten with a bat. It’s not like I even had anything worth a damn in my wallet… That at least made me feel a bit better about it.
But this thing wasn’t the person who hit me. Or anything that I really recognized. Or…no…I did recognize it, but I couldn’t place it. “Get up,” I heard. Well, not so much heard as I knew that’s what it said.
Getting up was no easy task, but as I made the attempt I found it was actually easy, and my headache was gone. And the rain had stopped. And I was now somewhere completely different. “What- What’s going on?” I looked around for a moment, taking in what appeared to be some sort of starscape, speckled with lights.
The figure did not answer, remaining silent.
My attention was brought to it. “Llama?” I muttered, taking in its quadrupedal shape. It was mostly white, gray underside, with gold on its hooves and golden ring around its midsection. I blinked as I suddenly realized what I was looking at. “Arceus?”
That was a Pokemon. That was the Pokemon God of creation, if lore was to be believed. But what was it doing here? Was I having some sort of hallucination in the last moments of my life? Maybe this was death, taking a form that would be familiar to me that I would not cower at. I knew I played too much Pokemon.
“Get. Up.” I heard again.
Which was confusing, because I was standing already. Standing before a Pokemon God. Something that was debatably one of the most powerful Pokemon. That was a debate that I had heard many times, on who was more powerful. Considering that in stories they got slapped by random kid’s Pokemon, it made me wonder how powerful they could actually be.
The llama looked at me, and I realized it was the first time that it had actually done so. “Wake. Up.”
Suddenly everything went dark. There was pain again. My headache returned, but not just that, the rest of my body also hurt. At least it wasn’t raining. “Wake up,” I heard again, though the voice was different this time, “Oh please, wake up. If those Ranger guys find someone dead, they’re gonna blame us.”
There was something nudging my side. “Why would they blame us? They’d probably blame- whatever. What’s he even doing out here?” There was another voice.
“You should go get your mom,” the first voice said. There was the pressure of something on me. “She’ll know what to do.”
“Ugh. Just when we managed to get away.” There was something moving around in front of me.
“Mm,” I managed a small noise before shifting, finally being able to move.
“He’s alive! Let’s get out of here!”
“Hey! Don’t leave me!”
Two figures rushed away. I tried to open my eyes, but one was swollen shut, and the other was pressed into the grass. Trying to move my arms resulted in only one listening to me, the other one hurt too much to even try. Broken? Maybe? Wait…grass? Wasn’t I on a sidewalk?
I heard a distant excited cry of, “Mama! Mama!” But I couldn't tell from where.
Slowly I tried to shift my good arm under me, doing my best to push my face off the ground so that I could look around. I was in…a forest? There were bushes and trees all around, and the grass I was in was quite tall. I rolled a bit to the side and up against a tree, managing to sit against it.
Everything hurt. My arm was battered and bruised, but I didn’t see any bones. It looked like I had…fallen? And tried to catch myself. It didn’t actually look broken now that I saw it, but it just hurt too much to move. I started to try and feel for broken bones, but found none.
“There, there, mama look.” The voice caused me to look over to see…a small blue bipedal dog. A Riolu? And behind it, the much larger jackal dog Lucario. Now I was in pain and extremely confused. That was definitely a Pokemon. Was I a Pokemon? No, my hands looked normal. That’s lame, being a Pokemon would be cool.
“He’s not a Ranger,” Lucario said, looking over at me. I noticed how she was keeping a distance from me, assessing if I was a threat. Riolu was standing beside her, and just next to them was a red insect Pokemon with black markings, a large hump and lots of legs; a Venipede.
“Could you-” A coughing fit interrupted my request for help. This did seem to ease her worry about whether I was a threat or not, and she approached.
I was trying to keep my focus on her, but it was hard. She knelt down in front of me, putting her hand on my chest to steady me as she looked me over. I was suddenly very aware that this was probably a wild Pokemon, and I could be in serious trouble if she decided to do anything. “What did you say happened?” she asked back towards Riolu.
“He fell! Like, zoom crash.” They were animatedly gesturing as they spoke, which made me smile a bit. “That’s the hole he crashed through.” They pointed up and indeed there was a rather large hole through the tree canopies.
We all sort of just stared at the hole for a few moments, before her attention turned back to me. The first thing she did was check my belt. She seemed…surprised? I was more disappointed than surprised, since there were no pokeballs there. “You’re not a Trainer? How did you get here?”
“I…I don’t know,” I managed to say. I was going to have to do my best not to lie, since Lucario’s had that whole aura sense thing. “I got…attacked and robbed…then saw… Then I woke up here.”
There was a moment of silence as she continued to look me over, before seemingly deciding something. “The Pokecenter is pretty far, but I can get you there,” she said before rather unceremoniously hefting me up onto her back.
It was a rather odd experience, being lifted by something quite a bit smaller than me. My head was actually above hers. “Thank you,” I said. Lucario shifted my weight, holding my legs in her arms. My arms were draped over her shoulders, and I did my best not to touch her chest spike.
I watched Riolu get on top of the Venipede. “To the Pokecenter!” they declared, and the little bug simply rolled their eyes.
And then we were off. I’m not sure how far it was, considering I passed out twice on the way there. It was not the most gentle of rides and Lucario was moving quite fast. But eventually we broke out of the trees and onto a road. The sun had gone down, and I could see lampposts in the distance.
I had no idea what town it was, but it was large. Stone streets, and rather modern looking buildings was the first thing that caught my eye, but I didn’t have much of a chance to observe as we came towards the Pokecenter. It was a familiar building, and I was trying to place the style when we rushed inside. Apparently Lucario had been here before. “Wigglytuff!” she called out, before spotting the Pokemon and heading over.
Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff immediately started to rush over. Both of them saying some sort of variation of, “Oh my. Oh dear. Oh my.” Wigglytuff was the first to reach me and immediately helped me off of Lucario, who fell to one knee, panting softly from the exertion.
“What happened?” Nurse Joy asked, trying to help me onto my feet.
“Robbed,” I managed to say, standing was a struggle, but the pink Pokemon was strong enough to lift me to my feet and keep me there.
I was rushed into the back and found out just how fantastical the medicine in the Pokemon world was. Apparently potions worked on literally everyone. Half an hour later, I felt so much better. Wigglytuff was there, taking care of my more serious injuries. “It doesn’t seem to be broken,” she said as she was examining my arm.
“No, I think it’s got a fracture, though,” I responded, and she nodded, carefully wrapping my arm.
“You have very good partners. But we couldn't find any pokeballs?” She looked me over again, for probably the dozenth time.
“I… They’re not my Pokemon,” I admitted, watching as she wrapped my arm.
That caused her to pause and look up at me. “They’re…someone else's?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so… they found me in the woods.” She looked nervous at my words. “It’s alright. Lucario’s got a good personality and took it upon herself to get me here. I doubt she’d cause trouble after that.” I reached out with my good arm and pat the pink balloon on the head softly.
Her cheeks immediately puffed up, which caused me to laugh. She huffed at me before continuing to wrap my arm. “You shouldn’t touch a medical practitioner when she’s working.”
“Aw, but cute Pokemon deserve headpats,” I said, still chuckling softly.
Again her cheeks puffed up, but before she could retort, Nurse Joy came back in. “I’ve contacted Officer Jenny, and she’s on her way.” She had left to make some calls. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better, thank you.” I gave her a bit of a smile before turning back to watch Wigglytuff. I was still trying to come to terms that I was now in the Pokemon world. And, I had a general idea where I was. “Arceus, why am I in France…” I muttered under my breath. Only Kalos Nurse Joys used Wigglytuff’s as assistants.
Wigglytuff looked up at me in confusion, apparently having heard me. “Hm?”
I shook my head in response. “Just talking to myself,” I said.
After a moment she nodded and finished her work. “Okay, so your arm is the worst injury you have. It’s going to take a few weeks before it’s fully healed. So no throwing. You also have a mild concussion, but surprisingly no skull fractures.”
“Weeks?” I mused as I flexed my fingers a bit. My whole arm still hurt whenever I try to move it. “Alright, I can do that. Thank you.” I gave her another few pats.
She puffed up, flailing her little hands to try and bat my hand away. “Stop headpatting me! I am a professional!” she exclaimed, which only caused me to laugh.
“Of course you are. You’re an absolutely amazing professional.” As much as I wanted to continue patting her head, I decided that that was enough teasing and instead fixed her little hat. “You’re a great nurse.”
The balloon gave me a huff in response before turning away to clean up the tools. “You’re really good with Pokemon,” Nurse Joy said as she had been watching our interaction. “Usually Wigglytuff would have been rough with anyone who treated her like that.”
“Well, I love Pokemon. And she’s a cutie that I can’t help teasing a bit,” I said with a smile as I saw Wigglytuff turn back to glare at me for a moment before turning away with another huff. “Such a professional.” I chuckled a bit.
Nurse Joy gave me a bit of a confused look. “Professional? That’s kind of an odd way of putting it.”
“Ah, I’m just teasing her more. After all, it’s what she called herself.” I made a few gestures towards the pink Pokemon.
“Called herself?” Nurse Joy asked, sounding even more confused. I looked at her a moment before we both seemed to realize it at the same time. Pokemon can’t talk. Wigglytuff also seemed to realize that something was off as well as she turned back to look at me. “You can understand her?”
“You can understand me?” Wigglytuff asked nearly at the same time.
Slowly I nodded. “Yes?” I had to think about it for a moment. “It’s like…” I was trying to figure out how to explain it. “I can hear her say things and make noises, but I don’t actually hear that, I hear words.”
Wigglytuff was suddenly in front of me, grabbing my hands. “You can understand me?!” she practically shouted. And I nodded. “Good!” She pointed a flipper arm at Nurse Joy. “Tell her that I want an egg! I have been trying for months to tell her, but she doesn’t understand!”
I blinked a few times, and then laughed. Wigglytuff shook my hands, trying to get me to stop laughing. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry, that was just a very sudden request.”
“What did she say?” Nurse Joy asked, moving a bit closer. “I know there’s something that’s been bothering her for a while now, but I just can’t figure it out.”
“She…” I paused, trying to figure out the best way to say it. I cleared my throat. “She wants a child.”
Nurse Joy blinked at me, while Wigglytuff nodded vigorously. “Oh.” Her face had gained a slightly red tinge to it. “That uhm…does explain her fascination whenever someone brings in a Pokemon egg, or a Pokemon who is close to laying.”
I nodded and Wigglytuff nodded along with me, both of us with our arms folded.
“Wait. Wait wait wait. Not that that isn’t important, but you can- you can talk to Pokemon?” Nurse Joy said, shaking her head a bit to try and refocus herself.
I was still nodding, but before I could answer a rather familiar green haired police woman poked her head into the open door. “Nurse Joy? Ah, there you are.” She looked around the room for a moment. “This him?”
“Ah, Officer Jenny, yes,” Nurse Joy said as she turned her attention to the new woman. “This is-” she stopped, realizing there was something important that was never asked.
“Jason,” I offered, “Or Jace for short.”
“Alright, Jason, what happened,” Officer Jenny asked as she came into the room. She looked rather stern, but that always seemed to be how the Jenny Clan looked.
“I- I’m honestly not sure. My memory of…well, anything, is pretty fuzzy. I’m…not sure where I am. I was going to the store for a snack, when I was struck in the back of the head, I think? I remember them beating me for a while and then I passed out. And when I woke up I was in a forest.”
Officer Jenny was writing it down, though there was a look of concern on her face. “Do you have any identification?”
I shook my head. “They took everything.”
“Even your Pokemon?”
“He has some, they’re in a resting room,” Nurse Joy interjected. “But they don’t have pokeballs.”
“Ah, those aren’t mine. They’re…wild I think?” Both of them looked at me, a look of surprise and shock showing on their faces. “I think Riolu and Venipede found me, and Riolu went and got their mother, who carried me here.”
“I think I know the Lucario,” Nurse Joy said, tapping her cheek. “If it’s the same one from a few years ago. She was really beat up, and a Ranger brought her here because he was worried.”
“Do you know which Ranger?” Officer Jenny asked, and Nurse Joy shook her head. “Dang. Well… I’ll put out some bulletins. See if we can figure out where you came from, Jason. I’ve never seen you around, so you’re probably not from around here. I’ll put it out to the other Jenny’s. Hopefully someone will see it and recognize you.”
I sighed a bit, but nodded. I felt kind of bad because I knew that was just going to be a waste of time and resources. “Thank you.” I took a moment to stand, the Wigglytuff immediately moving to help. “Heh, thank you, too.”
“Ah!” Nurse Joy suddenly exclaimed as if remembering. “I need to tell Professor Sycamore!” She moved to leave the room, but was blocked by Officer Jenny.
“About what?” she questioned.
“Him- he. He can talk to Pokemon,” Nurse Joy hurriedly explained, trying to get around the police woman.
Officer Jenny just looked puzzled, but let the pink haired woman pass. “Talk to Pokemon? Everyone can talk to Pokemon?” she questioned, turning her attention back to me.
“No, I mean he has full communication,” Nurse Joy tried to explain as she dashed down the hall.
“Is that rare?” I knew it was a thing that was possible, but I didn’t know how possible it was in this Pokemon world. I had no idea if this was even based on anything or just a random Pokemon world.
“It is. It’s about as rare as a Pokemon learning to talk to us. I’ve only heard rumors of people who could do it,” she said, eying me with some suspicion.
“Mmm I see. Well, I‘m going to go and thank my savior and let her know I’m alright, okay?” The officer nodded and I looked at Wigglytuff. “Could you show me where they are?” She nodded and led me out.
The room that they were letting the others stay in was nice and cozy, some sort of lounge area. Lucario was sitting on a couch, drinking something warm, while Riolu and Venipede were running around the room and looking at all the new things.
Lucario looked up as we entered. “You look much better.”
“Yes, thanks to you,” I said as I moved over, watching as the other two were fascinated by a cardboard tube. There were paper towels everywhere. “Are you planning to stay in the Pokecenter for very long?”
She shook her head. “No, we should head back before morning. I don’t want to have to deal with Trainers…”
I chuckled a bit, nodding. “That’s understandable. You’re a very popular team choice.”
There was a sort of exasperated and sad noise that escaped her as she nodded. “I am well aware.”
“You…really can communicate with them well,” Officer Jenny said, looking between Lucario and me as we talked. “I can only get a general idea of it, but you seem to really understand.”
“Are we leaving?” Riolu said, running over to their mom and jumping onto the couch. “This place is weird.”
“Yes, I can,” I responded to Officer Jenny. She seemed a bit on edge being around the wild Pokemon. “I’m…not sure how or why, but I just hear what they say as words.”
Her expression became thoughtful. “Maybe the Professor will know…”
“Wait. You can actually understand me?” Lucario asked, a bit surprised at that reveal. “I thought you were just good at interpreting.”
“Yeah I can actually understand you.” I felt like I was going to have to repeat this a lot, if even Pokemon were caught off guard by it.
“Then, can you ask that one a question?” She pointed at Officer Jenny. “I’ve seen her with Rangers.”
“Of course.” I glanced at Officer Jenny who gave me a puzzled expression before I returned my attention back to Lucario.
“Where is my mate?” Immediately she sounded pissed off, like a switch was clicked. “That- That trash left me to join some Trainers team!” She was gesturing with her hands. “He left me, just after my daughter was born,” she pointed at Riolu.
“Ah, a deadbeat dad,” I nodded sympathetically.
“Deadbeat? Yeah, I probably am going to beat him to death when I find his smooth, lying, child abandoning ass.” She punched into her hand several times for emphasis.
“Why’s she…so mad?” Officer Jenny asked, I could see she had a hand on one of her pokeballs.
“Her mate- the father of that Riolu- left her to join a Trainer. Is it possible for you to check if any Trainers got a Lucario around here a few years ago?”
“Three years,” Lucario added.
“Three years ago,” I repeated after Lucario.
Her brow furrowed a bit as she looked back and forth from me and Lucario. “I…could check the Pokemon registry, but I probably won’t be able to give out the information.”
“Honestly I think we both would just appreciate you looking,” I said and Lucario nodded from beside me. I blinked, looking at the Lucario who had come up beside me without me having noticed.
Officer Jenny looked between the two of us and then laughed softly. “You sure she’s not your Pokemon? You two seem to get along really well.” Lucario and I looked at each other for a moment before both shrugging. I turned my attention back to Officer Jenny. “Ah, that’s right…you don’t have any Pokemon… You’ll have to come down to the station to fill out a report. Do you remember what Pokemon you had?”
I shook my head with a sigh. “No.” In truth, I didn’t have any Pokemon, but saying that would be weird. Even children had Pokemon depending on what Pokemon universe this was.
“That’s going to be a problem… I’ll have to see what we can do, but I’m sure Professor Sycamore will be able to help you with that. I’m gonna make some calls.” Officer Jenny said before stepping away and pulling out…a Rotom phone? No, just a regular phone with an interesting case.
A slight tugging at my pants leg caused me to look down. Venipede had pulled on them. “Are you okay?” they asked.
I crouched down, putting a hand gently onto their shell. “I’m fine, little bug. Thanks to you and Riolu.”
As if on cue from her name, Riolu used me as a springboard and leapt into the air and landed on Venipede. “Yeah! Team Speed Shell completes another mission!”
I let out a bit of a soft laugh. “Team Speed Shell?”
“It’s what these two troublemakers call themselves,” Lucario said with an exhausted tone. “I’ve no idea where they got it from.”
“Maybe they should be Team Trouble?” I suggested, and that got Lucario to chuckle.
Riolu looked offended. “You dare?” They took up a pose, pointing at me as if challenging me.
“Team Trouble is a good Pokemon team name,” I argued. “Team Speed Shell is also good, especially with how speedy Venipede is.” I pat the bug Pokemons shell again. “You easily kept up with Lucario as she was going full speed.” They wiggled under my words of praise.
“Veny is the speed, I’m the muscle,” Riolu proclaimed, patting her bicep.
“Oh? Speed and muscle? Who's the brains?”
They both froze and slowly looked at each other. There was a silent argument between them for a few moments. “Neither,” Lucario said with a huff. “If those girls had any brains between them I wouldn’t have to keep such a close eye on them.” I couldn’t help but laugh.
They both gasped, looking at Lucario as if she had just slapped them. “How could you say that mamma?” I laughed harder, and Riolu leapt up, grabbing hold of my shirt. “Dare to laugh at Team Speed Shell? I’ll show you-”
“Rio!” Lucario snapped, and the little pup's grip loosened.
“I’m sorry,” I said gently, putting my good hand on her back to help support her. She was extremely soft and warm. “I’m not laughing at Team Speed Shell. It’s a good team name. It was your mothers reaction that made me laugh, and then your reaction to it that was funny.”
She sniffled a bit in response. I reached up and gently pat her head, which was about all I could manage to do with my injured arm. Lucario gently took her from me. “She’s tired,” she said.
“Am not,” was Riolu’s response.
“I don’t usually let her stay up this late.” I watched as Lucario carefully held Riolu, being careful of her spike. Riolu was one of the baby Pokemon, one of the many strange gimmicks that was hardly ever used. I suppose that had some base of reality here.
With a nod, I reached down and picked up Venipede. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Officer Jenny jolt slightly. Venipede were known to be brutally aggressive and highly venomous, but anyone who had heard the tone of her little voice wouldn’t be worried. “I suppose we could all use some rest. I’m sure you can stay here as long as you need to.”
Lucario hesitated, looking at me as if searching for something. After a moment she nodded. “Yes. Better to stay here for the rest of the night, and leave tomorrow after hopefully getting some information on where that jerk went.”
With a nod, I asked Officer Jenny about accommodations, and was actually surprised to learn that a Pokecenter doubled as a sort of inn for Trainers. And since it was near the end of the League season, and the actual Kalos League would be starting soon, not many would be staying here. That was something that I was interested in. Watching high level battles in person would be amazing.
The room was nice, though very bare. Not quite like a hotel room, more just a place to crash for the night, a desk, and a little bathroom. I set Venipede down on the bed before settling into it myself. To my surprise, Lucario laid down on the bed as well and made herself comfortable. I was too tired to complain, not that I really would have, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
~
In the morning I woke to a pressure on my chest and a lot of weight on top of me. Opening my eyes, I saw quite a sight. On my left was Lucario, having pressed her face into the crook of my shoulder. Venipede was lying on my chest, with Riolu between her and her mother. I could see Lucario’s arm wrapped over both of them. The scene caused a smile to creep onto my face.
A sudden knock at the door caused Lucario to jolt upwards, going from laying to standing and ready to fight in an instance. I didn’t move, letting her get her bearings. Riolu and Venipede hadn’t even twitched at the noise or movement. After a moment she seemed to remember where she was and looked around, seeing me looking at her.
She quickly looked away, apparently embarrassed at her reaction. “Someone is at the door,” she mumbled and moved to go answer it.
“Yes,” was all I said.
When she opened the door, it was Nurse Joy. “Ah, sorry, were you still asleep?”
“No, I was awake. I'm just under a pile of Pokemon,” I said with a chuckle. The movement of my chest and speech roused the other two, who grumbled about being woken.
“Good. Professor Sycamore will be arriving soon. He sounded really excited to talk to you.” She had not come into the room, simply watching as Lucario moved to get Riolu and Venipede off of me.
Once I was freed I sat up. “Alright, good. I wanted to talk to him as well.”
“Have you…remembered anything?” she sounded hesitant to ask, but as a nurse knew that it was important.
I hesitated a moment, unsure what to say before I shook my head. “No more than yesterday.”
With a nod, Nurse Joy led me to a sort of cafeteria. Apparently Pokecenters were really designed to help Trainers on the journey in every conceivable way. A place to rest, recover, eat, gain information, and from the noises out back, battle. The food was pretty good, though I realized pretty quick that the meat in the dishes must be from Pokemon. Going vegetarian might be a good choice. But it was tasty…
I saw Professor Sycamore before I had finished eating. He was hard to miss. That hairdo was so anime, and the labcoat was a dead giveaway. He was talking with Nurse Joy as I got up and approached the two of them. “Ah, you must be Jason,” he said as he gave me a smile.
I nodded. “Professor Sycamore?” Even if I knew, it was polite to ask.
He nodded, still smiling. “Yes. I heard you had…quite a bit of trouble.”
Again I nodded. “Professor I… I would like to talk to you, privately, before we discuss anything else.”
He gave me a rather confused look, but nodded slowly. “Of course. Nurse Joy, could we borrow an exam room?”
“Of course,” she said, also a bit confused.
Nurse Joy led us to a small room, and I moved in and sat down before Professor Sycamore had even closed the door. “I take it… you do not have memory loss?” he asked after closing the door.
“I- I’m not sure.” I sighed a bit, rubbing my face as I thought. There were going to be far too many lies to keep track of if I tried, and I knew Professor Sycamore was at least trustworthy. I would have much preferred Oak, or… well honestly all of the professors were pretty trustworthy. “As far as I see it, there are three possibilities.”
“Oh? Do tell,” he said as he sat down.
“First possibility is that I have some sort of memory inventing amnesia,” I wasn’t sure how to explain it succinctly.
Thankfully, the Professor asked, “What is that?”
“It’s… Well I’m not sure of its actual name, I’m just trying to explain it. But it’s like, I have amnesia, but rather than it being blank, my mind filled in the gap with false memories. A life that never actually existed, from a place that doesn’t exist.”
“False memories…why do you think that?”
“Well, that would be more easily explained with the second possibility. That I’m from a different world.” I wasn’t sure if he was silent because he wanted me to continue, or because he wasn’t sure how to word a question. “I have lived my entire life in a world that doesn’t have Pokemon. Well, not in the same sense as here, anyways. They exist, but only in fantasy. Books, games, television shows. They are made up things there.”
“So you think that you are from some other world?” he said carefully.
“Or the first possibility. Or the third; that I’m just insane.”
That actually got a laugh out of the man. “Well, at least you’re aware that that’s an option. But…another world… That would be quite interesting.” He leaned back in his chair for a moment. “Aside from your memories, do you have any proof?”
“I have nothing on me. I didn’t lie about being robbed. But the fact that I don’t have anything, no Pokemon, is another piece of the puzzle. If Officer Jenny can’t find evidence of me in the system, that’s something.” I ran my fingers over my hair. “Honestly, I don’t know what would be scarier, if she didn’t find anything or if she did.”
“Personally I think it would be more worrying if she didn’t find anything. Because that would mean your other world theory would be more plausible.” He rubbed at his chin a bit.
“When I supposedly crossed over… I saw Arceus, or at least I think I did.”
His brow furrowed a bit. “If it has to do with Arceus, I’d have to talk to other Professors…”
“Professor Juniper,” I suggested. “Maybe Oak or Laventon?”
“No, I think Juniper would be the best-” he stopped, looking at me. “You know other Professors?”
I leaned back a bit in my chair, trying to get comfortable. “Like I said, Pokemon existed as fiction in my world. I’m not sure how accurate my knowledge will be, but- Ah, Professor Laventon isn’t from this timeline…”
“I’m afraid I don’t… I don’t know what you mean. I don’t think I’ve heard the name Professor Laventon before.”
“Well, he’s a Professor from a very long time ago.” I blinked, and then snapped, pointing at Professor Sycamore. “There. That’s another piece. If you can find information on Professor Laventon and his Galaxy Team, then it’s true that I know something that most wouldn’t know. It would at least be a strike against option three.”
He chuckled softly, nodding. “Well, that is the most worrying of the options.” He took a deep breath. “Speaking of worrying… you not having a Pokemon is a problem.” I nodded. “I can’t give out any new Pokemon until the start of the next journey, but-”
“Wait. What’s the journey?” I interrupted, that sounded important.
“Ah, right. Well, when a child reaches sixteen, they are given a Pokemon, either by their parents or by the Pokemon Association. Some get it earlier, but they’re not allowed to battle in gyms till sixteen. They go on a journey for eleven months, to try and collect enough badges to participate in their local League. Ours is the Kalos League, which starts next week. After the League, Trainers will either give up on their journey and go on to other things, or continue and try to do better in the next League.”
I nodded slowly. “So that’s how it works here…”
“Is…that similar to what you know?” he asked, unsure if he even wanted to ask that question.
“It’s pretty close. Though in the games there’s no like, time? You can just go do the League whenever you want and challenge the Elite Four.”
His face scrunched up. “That would be exhausting. The Elite Four would constantly be getting battles. Only the top ten in the League get the chance to challenge the Elite Four, and someone has to-”
“Beat all four to challenge the Champion,” I finished his sentence with a nod. “I did that a bunch in the games,” I mumbled.
He blinked at me several times. “You…did what?”
“Hm?” I looked over at him, realizing I had been spacing out. “Ah, yeah. Since they were games, you just trained Pokemon and then beat the Champion. Some of the games had more stuff to do after that, but usually that was the end.”
There was a thoughtful look on his face. “And you… did this several times?”
“Technically? I don’t know how well training video game Pokemon would translate to real Pokemon.” I wasn’t sure how to explain a video game to him, since I had no idea if they even had those in the Pokemon world, and he seemed to not understand what I meant.
“Well, sounds like you’ll be a fantastic Trainer,” he said with a laugh. “But that will have to wait. We need to talk about the reason I’m here. You…can understand Pokemon?”
With a sigh, I nodded. “Yes.”
“Not just, interpret them really well, but actually understand them?” he pressed.
Again I nodded and repeated, “Yes.”
He pulled a pokeball from his pocket. “Go.” There was a red light, and in the room formed a rather large Venasaur, who took up most of the room.
“A Venasaur?” I complained. “Couldn’t you have chosen something smaller?”
“Are you calling me fat?” Venusaur said with a tone of shock.
“Of course not,” I said immediately, “You are perfectly proportioned.”
“He is a bit on the chubby side,” the Professor added, which got a glare from the Pokemon.
I moved over, hugging and patting the Pokemon. “Don’t listen to him. He just doesn’t understand.”
“I am not fat. He’s always saying that.” Venusaur leaned into me, as if finally having a comrade against injustice.
“Is he? That’s so mean. You have incredibly healthy leaves, and your flower is absolutely vibrant.”
The massive Pokemon nodded, huffing. “Maybe I’m a bit out of shape, but if he would let me out more often, I could enjoy some sun.”
“How cruel.” I turned to the Professor. “You need to let him out more. He says he’s not getting enough sun.”
That immediately got the man’s attention. “What?”
“He says you don’t let him out enough,” I said, and Venusaur nodded.
“What…what else did he say?” He was leaning forward in his seat.
“What’s with him?” Venusaur asked, gesturing at the Professor with one of his whips.
“Well, he’s just surprised that I can talk and understand Pokemon.” I gave the big guy a few more headpats.
“Oho? Tell him to wash his socks more often.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “And that I want to be sprayed with a hose more often, that’s nice.”
Still laughing, I nodded. “Anything else?”
The big guy seemed to think over it for a moment. “I wanna see that lady again. The pretty lady who gave me berries.”
I nodded a bit and turned back to the Professor. “He says your feet stink.” I saw the smile on the Professor's face fall, and he cleared his throat as he sat back up. “And he wants you to spray him with the hose more. And there was a lady that fed him berries? He wants to see her more-”
“Okay. Okay.” He put up his hands, trying to get me to stop. “I got it. I can…I can see you can at least understand him better than I can.”
Venusaur and I laughed a bit, the large Pokemons laugh was deep and throaty, causing me to feel the vibrations since I was still hugging him. It was a nice feeling. The Professor cleared his throat. “Return.” The red beam shot out and struck the Venusaur, returning him back to the ball.
I moved to sit back in my seat. “So… Since I’ve proven that, what next?”
“Well… First off, we need to get you a Trainer’s license. Usually that would require you graduate from a Pokeschool, but I can bypass that.” He rubbed his chin a bit. “And I think I can get you a sort of starter kit for new Trainers? I usually have a few of those around. Pokemon will still be a problem…” He gave me a look. “Unless you can get a Pokemon before that. I hear you have some…friends?”
A shrug was my first response. “I don’t know if they’re interested in that.”
He looked at me for a moment before nodding. “Right… Well, it wouldn’t hurt to ask.” He suddenly stood up. “I’ve got some calls to make, and a bag to go find for you.”
“Before you go, is it possible to get me like…tickets to see the League? I want to see real Pokemon battles.” I was on my feet soon after him.
“Oh, yeah sure I can do that. I have tickets to a booth that I hardly use, you can have those,” he said with a smile.
Opening the door, we found Nurse Joy, who was apparently about to knock. “Ah. Officer Jenny uh… called, asking him to go to the station.”
Professor Sycamore nodded. “Yeah, probably important.” He turned back to me. “If a certain subject comes up, tell her that you talked with me about it and I suggested you not talk about it.”
“Oh good,” I said with a smile. “That way, she can be mad at you instead of me.”
His smile faltered a bit and he sighed. “Yeah.”
There was silence for a moment. “Uhm… So where’s the station?”
The Professor decided to lead me to it, walking through the town as we went. It was actually quite bustling. Apparently I was in Santalune, which was fitting since it was supposed to be a sort of beginning place for Trainers. It was also much, much bigger than in the games, looking more like it did in the anime. Which of course, was more realistic. A city only having like, thirty people was a bit absurd. That’s a village. At best.
The station was pretty obvious, even having a little police scooter outside. Officer Jenny was also apparently not the only person there. There were numerous other police officers. Or wait, this is supposed to be France, right? Weren’t they called something fancy? Un policier? That was for a male officer I think? But then again, they didn’t speak French in Kalos so probably not.
I was about to go up to one of the officers at a desk when Officer Jenny appeared from a doorway. “Ah, there you are. Come on in here.”
With a shrug I walked over, following her inside. “So, what did you want me for, Officer Jenny?”
“Well, a few things.” She sat down at a desk, gesturing for me to sit down in the seat opposite. “Firstly, I need you to describe what events you can remember from the incident, and any bit of information that you can recall.” She pushed a little recording device towards me, an old cassette recorder that was already going.
“There’s…really not much, but I will do my best,” I said as I sat down. “Let’s see…” I thought for a moment, trying to decide where to start. “I remember going outside…to a shop near where…I think I lived? I was staying?” That was a complicated situation that I wasn’t about to get into. “It was pretty late, dark out.”
“Do you remember the time?”
“Mmm no. I think it was after nine?” She nodded. “I wasn’t really paying attention, thinking about what to buy, when I was hit over the head. Someone struck me from behind.”
“Do you know what hit you? Was it a person, or a Pokemon?”
I had to try and not smile at her implying it might have been a Pokemon in my pokeless world. “No, I think it was a person. They hit me with… I think it was a baseball bat?”
“Did you see the attacker?”
That actually made me pause for a different reason. Had I seen them? Slowly I shook my head. “No… I just remember putting my arms over my head because they were continually striking me. Eventually they stopped, took everything I had, and then… Ah, it was raining. Pretty hard. They even took my jacket.” It just occurred to me that I wasn’t wearing it anymore.
“I see…” She was taking notes as well as having the recorder going. Officer Jenny was such a professional.
“Then I passed out. And-” I paused for a moment, wondering what to say.
“And?”
“And I think I saw Arceus?” I said, not sounding very sure. She arched an eyebrow at me. “Pretty sure I was just hallucinating or something. But he was telling me to get up. Wake up. And then when I did, I was in the forest.”
“Is that when you found those Pokemon?”
“Well they found me. I think it was their voices that I was hearing, telling me to get up and wake up. They ran off to get the Riolu’s mom, the Lucario. Who picked me up and carried me to the Pokecenter.” I really needed to find a way to properly thank Lucario for doing that. It really could not have been easy.
“Do you know where you were found?”
I shook my head. “I would have to ask Lucario…but it must have been really far. They ran for a really long time and really fast. I passed out a few times during the trip, so I can’t even estimate.”
She nodded at that. “I’ve sent out a bulletin about you to the other Jenny’s. I’ll let you know as soon as we know something.” She reached over and clicked a button on the recorder before pulling it back towards her. “And about that other thing…”
“Ah, right…the other thing.” I looked at her for a moment, but I felt I already knew the answer.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t give you any information.”
“I kinda expected that,” I said, nodding a bit. That was unfortunate… Maybe I could help Lucario in some other way? It would be hard to track down a random Lucario amongst the tens of thousands of Trainers, but maybe I could think of something.
Officer Jenny made a soft noise of clearing her throat. “On a completely and totally unrelated note, are you going to be watching the League battles?”
I blinked at her. “I am. Professor Sycamore is going to give me tickets.” So this is how she was going to skirt the rules?
“Good. Good. I…recommend you bring that Lucario. Would be good for her to see some high level battles. Some…very high level battles.” She gave me a look.
Again I nodded. “Oh of course. I’ll…ask her. I’m sure she’ll be very interested.” It was at least something to go on.
“Although…there is a problem with that.” She leaned back in her seat a bit.
“A problem?”
“We can’t have wild Pokemon at the League,” she said flatly.
“Ah. That- that might be a problem. I’ll…have a talk with her about it.” That was going to be an awkward conversation. Although I would like to have her come along, I had no idea how she felt about that. She didn’t seem to like Trainers, but she did seem comfortable around me considering how I woke up this morning.
“You do that. And I’ll get started on looking for clues on your past.” She stood up rather suddenly, and I did the same without thinking. “I really hope that everything works out for you.”
There was a moment of pause as I looked at her before smiling a bit. “Thank you, Officer Jenny.”
With that, I made my way back to the Pokecenter. “Ah, Jason,” Nurse Joy called out with a smile. “Wigglytuff found some clothes for you, so you can get into something clean. She put them in your room.”
It was at this moment that I looked down at myself. My clothes were a mess. “Oh. Right. Yeah. That would actually be great.”
“She’s giving Lucario, Riolu, and Venipede a checkup right now,” she added, answering an unasked question.
With a nod, I made my way back to the room. There were indeed a few sets of clothes, some dark blue colored t-shirts and…what looked like gray cargo pants. They would have to do for now. Thankfully my shoes were fine, though if I planned on trekking into the wilderness I would need some boots. The bathroom was actually pretty nice now that I took the time to look at it, though small. It was at this point that I caught my own gaze in my reflection, my gray-blue eyes looking back at me. It was the first time I’d seen myself since coming here.
The first thing I noticed was that I was younger. Early twenties, if I had to guess, rather than the forty I had been approaching. My hair was still the red-brown I remembered, long and tied back. I didn’t have my short beard anymore, instead I was clean shaven, which just gave me an even more youthful appearance. That was a shame; I thought I looked better with a beard. Not that I would say I was unattractive, but I liked my beard.
At least I looked in much better shape. I had let myself go in the last decade due to depression, but I had never let it get too bad. That was going to be something I would have to watch out for. How was mental health handled in the Pokemon world? Maybe I should ask Nurse Joy? It really seemed like Pokecenters were for both humans and Pokemon. I knew there were human only hospitals, they’d been in the anime, but they seemed rare and only for the bigger things.
But before anything else, I needed a shower. I had dirt and grime in places that I really wish that I didn’t. I hadn’t realized how caked in all this dirt had been. If I was taking a bath, the water would probably have turned brown; it was that bad. At the end of it, I had used all of the soap and shampoo that had been in the bathroom. I still felt like I hadn’t gotten it all off, but at least I looked clean now.
Exiting the shower, after drying off, I looked for a brush for a few moments but that didn’t seem to be something included in the amenities. Nor was there a hair dryer. With a sigh I decided to air dry it, and laid down on the bed. I took a moment to fan out my hair and closed my eyes, relaxing. I was still injured, so I should try and do as little as possible.
I wasn’t sure how long I was laying there before the door opened. Glancing over I watched as Lucario entered, looking oddly exhausted. She walked over and flopped face first onto the bed, nearly impaling my arm with her chest spike. “You okay?”
“That Wigglytuff is…thorough,” was her response. I did my best not to laugh as I reached over and gently pat her on the back.
“Where’s Riolu and Venipede?” I asked, noting that they had not come in with her.
“Battling.”
“Trainers?” I asked, a bit worried since they were technically wild and Lucario wasn’t with them.
“Wigglytuff is with them. They need more experience.”
I nodded a bit and gave her a few more pats on the back. “That makes sense… It’s very important to be able to fight against Trainers.”
To my surprise she shifted over and pressed her face into the crook of my shoulder, letting out a huff as she did. “You smell different,” she said after a moment.
“I took a shower.”
“Mmm…” was the only noise she made. Hesitantly I decided to rub her back.
A few minutes passed as we lay there. Eventually, I remembered, “I talked with Officer Jenny.”
Her ear twitched, bapping me in the side of the face when it did.
“I have some good news, and bad news.” I was watching her, wondering what her reaction would be, but she remained motionless. “The bad news is, she can’t tell us who caught a Lucario around here.”
Her whole body seemed to sag slightly, pressing more into me.
“But the good news is she did give me a hint.” It was honestly adorable how her ears swiveled slightly, while the rest of her stayed still. “It sounds like he’s going to be participating in the League. And I have tickets to go, thanks to the Professor.”
She lifted herself up a bit, looking at me. “Then we just have to go, and watch for him?”
I nodded. “But…there’s a problem.” Her head tilted to the side. “They don’t allow wild Pokemon.”
She frowned. “So I can’t get in.”
Again I nodded. “I can keep an eye out, and it sounded like they’re pretty good. But the problem with that is, Lucario’s are a popular Pokemon.”
There was an unspoken solution between the two of us. I knew it. She knew it. Neither of us wanted to say it. While we were getting along really well, and she was being rather close to me, it was something neither of us wanted to bring up.
She wasn’t looking at me, instead she was looking at my shoulder. The place that she had just been laying on. That she had slept on. Suddenly she nodded. “Alright.”
“Are you sure?”
It took another moment before she nodded. “Yes. I… I don’t want to worry forever. About me being captured and taken away. Or for…or for it to be Rio. Or Veny. This way- this way we can all stay together.”
“And I can help you get revenge.”
A smile crept onto her face and she nodded. “Yes. I can finally find that jerk.”
I smiled as well and nodded along with her. “Though it sounds like he’s pretty strong, or at least on a strong team.”
“I’ll see it for myself. I’ve not been slacking in training just cus he’s been gone. And if I can’t… If I can't, I just need to get stronger.” There was quite a determined look on her face, but I could also see that she was more than just angry; she was sad.
Again I started to rub her back. “Well, I can help. I’ll do whatever I can to help, since you’re willing to join me.”
There was an odd mixture of emotions on her face, but before I could really determine what it was, she pushed her face back into the crook of my shoulder. “Yes.”
I chuckled a bit, still rubbing her back. “Though…” I hesitated a moment, but it was something that I needed to ask, “I am curious as to why you warmed up to me so quickly? It really seemed like you didn’t like humans.”
A few moments passed in silence before she spoke. “Your aura is nice… warm… gentle… It’s so soft, but strong. It drowns out all the other auras.” She took in a deep breath. “I hate coming near towns, because so many auras mix together and it’s so loud it hurts.”
I was kind of glad that her face was down, as I could feel my own face getting a bit heated. Auras were a thing I had little knowledge of outside of Pokemon references, but it was honestly nice to hear about my own.
“But your aura soothes that. And when I’m close to you I can hardly sense any other auras. They’re muffled. I can still feel them, but they don’t bother me.” It was at this point, when she finally fell silent, that I realized she had gotten embarrassed and had just started rambling.
The silence continued, and I decided to gently pet her, running my hand up and down her back, which she seemed to enjoy. Honestly I couldn’t blame her, I remember moments of having my back gently rubbed and it always felt good. Perhaps it was a bit too intimate, but she didn’t complain. And the fur on her back was amazingly soft and warm.
As I lay there, I began to zone out in my own thoughts. This was the Pokemon world, or at least a world extremely similar. It wasn’t super important how I got here, though I was curious as to why. Maybe something to do with my mild obsession? Kalos wouldn’t have been my first choice for locations to be dropped into. It wasn’t the worst place, but I would have preferred Alola.
Maybe I could go there eventually? That would be nice. I had only gone to Hawaii once, but it was the happiest I had ever been in my life. Something about being on an island was nice. Even though I’m scared of water. Well, not water in general. But water where I couldn’t clearly see the bottom caused me to panic. Aquaphobia is rough, and I hate that it’s a thing. And no, it’s not hydrophobia, that is caused by rabies or the property to repel water. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it Thalassophobia? That was the fear of deep water and large bodies of water, but not entirely accurate? Phobias are a bit weird.
But it really sucks having it no matter what it's called, because some of my favorite Pokemon are water types. Maybe having a few would help? Would having something so in tune with water beside me help me with my irrational fears? If that’s the case maybe I should get a Spinarak, or a Joltik. That caused me to think about the fact that I was going to need my own team. Who would I have on it? Should I try for some sort of meta build?
Immediately striking off any legendaries, I might be able to get some pseudo legendaries. That would probably mean getting a Garchomp or Dragonite. In the games you could get Gible and Dratini here in Kalos, so that is an option. But… I never built my teams for metas… Would those even apply to real life? I doubt Pokemon would be reduced to only being able to use four moves, and who knows if stats were actually a thing. I would have to pay close attention to the league battles. My game knowledge was only going to get me so far.
If the Professor was going to give me a starter, Fennekin or Froakie were good options. I’ve seen both Delphox and Greninja used really effectively. Though, Greninja just made me think of a Lickitung that watched too much Naruto. There were dozens of Pokemon that I could think of that I knew were good. The problem would be getting them. How do I go about being a Trainer? Did I even want to be a Trainer? I could be a Ranger, or a Researcher, or even a Photographer. I could just wander the world, meeting Pokemon.
That honestly sounded nice.
I’m not sure how long we laid like that, but it must have been some time because I was thoroughly zoned out and thinking about things. However I was brought out of my thoughts abruptly by the door opening. Wigglytuff came in, carrying Riolu by the scruff in one hand, and Venipede by her rear feelers in the other. She looked pissed.
Lucario was on her feet before the door had even fully opened, standing next to the door. Did she just use Quick Attack or Extreme Speed? “What did they do?” she asked with a sigh.
“They were getting too confrontational with the Trainers after losing so much,” Wigglytuff explained, walking in and putting the two down on the bed. Riolu looked…rough, worn out and ragged like she’d just been used as a chew toy. Venipede wasn’t in any better shape. I wasn’t aware that a bug could get a black eye, but she sure had one.
“Did they hurt anyone?” I asked as I sat up, looking over Riolu’s injuries, much to her obvious displeasure.
“No. But they’ve lost the right to battle without supervision.” She looked at Lucario, also glancing at me. “That means you.”
Lucario nodded, and I did as well, now taking a look at Venipede. While Riolu just seemed frustrated, it looked like the little bug had been humbled at being thrashed. Or perhaps she was stunned. “Ah- she’s unconscious,” I said, realizing what was wrong.
They both looked over, taking a look at the little bug who was completely unmoving. With a sigh, Wigglytuff picked her back up. “Alright, let’s get them healed up. But you-” she pointed at Lucario- “Have to keep them in sight.”
Again Lucario nodded and they all left. I was alone for a few moments before I decided that my hair was dry enough and I was hungry. So I tied my hair back and went to the cafeteria. I was still a bit put off by the…meat. But I did have to admit it was tasty.
The rest of the day passed by uneventfully. I didn’t see the three Pokemon for the rest of the day, finding out later that they were battling. Even Lucario got the chance to fight a bit, though from the sound of it, none of them did rather well. Fighting against Trainers was very new to them, and seeing Pokemon use tactics and techniques they didn’t know had caused them all to lose their battles.
They didn’t know about type advantage, or weaknesses. At least, they didn’t know the specifics. Lucario knew that certain things were more effective against certain opponents, but she didn’t know many and it was mostly guesswork. Though that had also worked in her favor, as not many people knew she was a fighting steel type. It seemed like not many of the people she fought knew much about steel type, as many had tried poison moves on her. Maybe Lucario wasn't as popular as I thought?
Riolu hadn’t been as lucky and had been hit by poison moves multiple times, which she was very grumpy about. Venipede also had it rough, but she was conscious this time. I took the time to help Wigglytuff clean them up, though the actual healing process was something I wasn’t allowed to watch. It was apparently some sort of family secret among the Joy Clan.
When it was finally time to go to sleep, they all once again piled on top of me. It was an interesting predicament. My mind flashed to a possibility of when Venipede evolved, and became the massive bug horse, that this arrangement could be a problem. But for now it was fine.
In the morning I woke up slowly, finding Lucario warming up. She looked determined to do better this day than the last. Rousing Riolu and Venipede, they decided to join in when they saw what was going on. I did a bit of stretching myself, feeling much better than I had the previous two days. The Pokemon didn’t seem to want much to do with me this morning, so after wishing them luck, I made my way to get breakfast.
Eggs. There were scrambled eggs. I wondered briefly what type of eggs, but pushed that out of my head. They could have been from a Chansey, they had Soft-Boiled, but there wasn’t a Chansey here. So I ignored it and just tried to enjoy the food.
Again, I hadn’t even finished eating when I caught sight of Professor Sycamore again. This time though, he approached me. “Alright, so… With Officer Jenny, and Nurse Joy’s help, we managed to scrounge up things for you.”
He placed a sort of messenger bag on the table, pushing it towards me with a smile. It sounded heavy, and was a sort of black and red style that reminded me of the bags they would have in the video games. Moving my breakfast aside I pulled it closer and took a look inside. Immediately I was surprised at just how massive the inside of the bag was.
“It’s a rather standard Trainer bag, pretty old, but Officer Jenny had it in their lost and found for years, so we figured you could use it.” As he spoke I was trying to take stock of what was in there. I could see notebooks, pens, books, a complete camping gear set, and a lot of other survival things.
“Wow…this is… a lot.” I looked up at him and smiled a bit. “Thank you.”
“That’s not all.” He pulled out a sort of card from his pocket and put it down on the table. “A Trainers license. Temporary. You’ll have to get an official one when the new season starts, but this will work as ID in the meanwhile.”
“Ah, good. Yeah that’s important…”
“It’ll also act as your bank card.” I blinked, looking the card over. “New Trainers receive five thousand dollars to start, but you won’t get that till you officially register.”
“So I won’t be able to do any shopping for the time.”
He nodded. “Yeah, but the Pokecenter will be providing for you in the meanwhile. I’ve included a few textbooks on Pokemon, training, breeding, and general care in your bag. There’s also a cellphone in there. I’ve also put the league tickets in there. And finally…” He reached into his pocket again, and this time pulled out a small belt clip, which contained five pokeballs in their shrunken form. “I was able to convince the Pokemon Association that you would need these.” He put them down. “They’re empty.” He slid them towards me. “Ready to use.”
I nodded, picking up the belt clip. “Right…right… I did talk with Lucario about it.” I took a deep breath, still looking at the pokeballs. “Ah, I should ask…will I be receiving a starter?” There were only five pokeballs, when a full team was six, so it got me curious.
“Unfortunately, no.” He leaned back in his seat a bit. “The starters that would be provided by the Pokemon Association have already been prepared for four months now. It would be half a year before you got one.”
With a sigh and a nod, I replied, “Yeah, I thought something like that would be the case. Shame, I kinda wanted a Fennekin.”
He nodded in turn, but before speaking he put a hand to his chin. “Hrm…actually…there may be a way.”
I tilted my head a bit. “Oh?”
“Well, every region has its own starters, as classified by the Pokemon Association. These starters are the nation's Pokemon. I have Kanto’s trio as well as Kalos’. But there’s a uh… Well, one option. But the issue is that she's problematic.”
“She was abandoned,” I said, posing it as a statement rather than a question. “And she’s aware she was.”
He nodded. “The Association calls her- well I think it’s harsh to call her a stray, but she is a starter from a different region that was… left here by the Trainer of her mother.”
“That’s…pretty harsh.”
Again he nodded, but with a somber expression. “If you’re really set on getting a starter,” he looked at me, and I nodded, “Tomorrow, catch a train to Ambrette. That’s where they’re keeping her. I’ll let them know you want to take a look at her, and possibly take her.”
There was a purposeful vagueness in the way he was talking, but I nodded and decided to ask, “What region's starter is she?”
He gave me a bit of a smirk as he stood up. “Let’s leave that as a surprise, shall we?”
I scoffed. “You think I’d not take her if I knew ahead of time?”
All I got was a chuckle and a shrug. “It’s all you got if you want an official starter.”
I had no idea why he was being so cryptic like this, but I supposed it was just how professors were. They all just sort of gave off that vibe. Either way, I would not say no to getting a starter, especially because it sounded like she was having a rough time.
My breakfast had gone cold. With a sigh, I quickly finished it off and went to the battle field behind the Pokecenter. Clipping my new pokeball belt clip to my belt. After slinging my new bag over my shoulder, I quickly made my way outside. I wanted to see what Pokemon battles were like in person, and this would be a good taste of it.
What I found was a rather impressive sight. There were four fields set up, each one with lines of people waiting to battle. Although they were all children, probably all around the age of ten to sixteen. These were probably kids who had gotten their Pokemon early, or were borrowing their parents' Pokemon.
After spotting Wigglytuff, I walked over. Lucario was sitting on the ground, watching as Riolu fought. However when I got into a certain range, her attention immediately snapped to me and I saw how she visibly seemed to relax. She then looked back at the battle. I sat beside her, turning my attention to the battle as well.
Riolu was fighting a Ledyba. “Bad matchup,” I mumbled. Lucario glanced at me, but didn’t say anything. I looked at the Trainer, a boy about sixteen, probably got his Pokemon recently but he knew his type advantage. “If that Ledyba knows any flying type moves, Riolu is in trouble.”
As if on cue, the little bug used Air Slash. That actually surprised me, as that was supposed to be a move learned at a pretty high level. Did that mean levels didn’t matter for when a Pokemon could learn a move? This Ledyba didn’t look like it was high enough level for that. Levels might not be a thing.
To Riolu’s credit, she managed to dodge. She even tried to counter it with a Vacuum Wave, but it hardly did anything to her opponent. “Riolu, don’t use fighting moves,” I called out, “That bug has a heavy resistance to them. Use Quick Attack, close the distance, and follow up with Metal Claw.”
Everyone turned their attention to me. “And who the hell are you?” the other Trainer called out, obviously annoyed at me giving advice. “Don’t interrupt my battle!”
“You call this a battle? This is just you bullying a child,” I retorted. “Also, you shouldn’t take your eyes off of a battle.” Riolu had hesitated, but when the Ledyba had turned its attention towards its Trainer, not knowing what to do next, the little dog had followed my instructions. Riolu closed the distance, hitting it with a little fist, and then following up with a glowing swipe from the other hand.
“Agh! Ledyba!” The other Trainer looked at his Pokemon, who had also not been paying attention.
However, Riolu also made the mistake of looking back at Lucario and I, a proud expression on her face. “Counter,” I said.
Just as I spoke, the other Trainer called out, “Mach Punch!” And immediately realized his mistake as his Ledyba turned and swung one of its arms. “No! Wait! Stop!”
But it was too late. The Ledyba struck Riolu, making contact with the side of her face. And then it happened, the blur of movement, and the little dog absolutely flattened the bug into the ground.
There was a moment of silence as Riolu staggered back, reeling a bit from the hit she had just taken. “Good job,” I said with a smile, looking at the rather stunned Riolu, who was looking at her paws. I had no idea if she would listen to me, or if she could take the hit, but it was her only chance. The two strikes had been almost enough to drop the Ledyba, so I could guess even with its resistance to fighting, Counter would be enough.
Suddenly she jumped up, raising her hands in the air and shouting, “Yeah! I did it! I won!” She ran towards Lucario and jumped. At least, I thought she was leaping towards Lucario, until she crashed into me and knocked me flat on my back. “I won! You see that?” She was standing on top of me, pointing down at me. “Team Speed Shell wins!”
Ah, she was still holding a bit of a grudge from the teasing. With a smile and a bit of a laugh, I reached up and pat her on the head. “Good job.”
She was absolutely beaming, a huge smile on her face. I realized that must have been the first time she had actually won. “Hey, what the hell is your problem?” the Trainer said, having come over. “You’re not allowed to interfere with other peoples battles.” He looked absolutely pissed.
I grabbed Riolu, passing her to Lucario as I sat up. “I’ve nothing to say to some punk bully.” Looking past him, I could see his Ledyba, still on the ground. “You know some stuff, but you’re an awful Trainer.”
He stepped up, grabbing hold of the collar of my shirt. “Do you have an idea who I am?” How cliche.
“You’re the type of Trainer who leaves their beaten Pokemon unconscious in the dirt to go and yell at someone,” I said, still looking at his Ledyba.
There was a pause, before he slowly followed me gaze to the little bug laying in the dirt. “Ah! Ledyba!” He let go of me, quickly running to his Pokemon.
I looked over at Wigglytuff, who had a rather sour expression. Then I turned to the other three. “I think that’s enough battling for now. I want to talk to you all about something.”
With a nod, Lucario stood up, holding the still beaming Riolu. I reached down to pick up Venipede, who looked like they had been in a battle just before, but had been healed up a bit. Wigglytuff nodded and made their way over to help the Trainer. The four of us went back to the room, and I set Venipede down on the bed. Lucario sat down as well, placing Riolu at her side.
I didn’t join them on the bed, instead I pulled out the chair that was tucked under the desk and sat down. “First… I want you all to know that this is your choice, and I’m not going to force any of you.”
“What-” Riolu began, but her mother put a hand on her shoulder, which stopped her.
I fiddled a bit with my new belt clip, and pulled off three pokeballs. Bending over, I expanded them and put them on the floor. Riolu looked a bit stunned, probably having not even thought about this, but Lucario nodded. “I want to go on a journey,” I explained, “I want to see this world, meet Pokemon, make friends, and just…have an adventure. And I’m asking if you want to come with me.”
The silence felt like it dragged on for several minutes. I knew Lucario’s answer already, but we were both letting the other two decide for themselves. Suddenly, to my surprise, Venipede hopped off the bed, and made their way towards me. “Veny-” Riolu started.
But Veny interrupted her. “Rio, I want to get strong.” There was a moment of silence. “I used to think we were already strong. But… How many battles did we lose yesterday? More importantly, how many did we win? We didn’t win a single one. It was…so frustrating.”
Riolu didn’t have a response.
“But then, with just a few words, a bit of guidance, you won.” She turned to look back at Riolu who was still on the couch. “I want to win. And the only way that’s going to happen is if we get a Trainer. And- and he’s nice. He’s not afraid to touch me, or pick me up, or let me sleep on top of him…” I could see tears welling up in her eyes.
A thought occurred to me, as I realized a common ability for Venipede was Poison Point. That would make anyone hesitant to touch her, even other Pokemon. Riolu and Lucario must be the only ones not afraid to touch her. Slowly I moved down from the chair, sitting on the floor. “I can’t promise you won’t ever lose again,” I said softly. “But I will do everything I can to help you get stronger, so that you can win.”
She crawled over to me, and gave me a little nod. “I…I want to come along.”
I smiled and picked her up, putting her in my lap. “I would be happy to have you come along, little bug.” Gently I began rubbing her shell. I wasn’t sure what ability she had, but it wasn’t Poison Point.
“I’ll get stronger, right?” Riolu suddenly said, standing up on the bed.
I nodded.
“And I’ll win more battles, right?” she continued.
Again I nodded.
“Is mama also comin’?” She didn’t look up at Lucario, but I could tell that most of her focus was there rather than on me.
Lucario nodded. “Yes. We discussed it yesterday, but we both felt you two needed to make the decision for yourselves.”
There was a pause as Riolu seemed to think it over, staring at the pokeballs. “And… and you’ll pet me, too?”
I blinked. “Hm?”
“You pet mama, and Veny. And you pat my head when I won. I want to be pet, too.”
It was a real struggle to not laugh; such an adorable request. “Alright.” I held out a hand. “Come over here.”
She hopped down, looking quite embarrassed as she made her way over to me, staring at the floor as she did.
Reaching out, I gently began to rub her head. “You did a very good job.” She reached up, putting her hands over mine and began giggling with a big grin on her face. “Do you two want to go on an adventure with me?” I reached over and picked up two of the pokeballs.
They looked at each other, and both nodded. “Yes,” they both said.
“Fantastic. I’m Jason, but you can call me Jace. And from now on, I’ll be your Trainer, and we’ll grow strong and go on lots of adventures.” I held the pokeballs in front of them.
“I’m Rio,” the Riolu said with a grin. “I’m the brawn of Team Speed Shell.” She tapped the ball with her paw, disappearing into the ball in a bright red light.
“I’m Veny,” the Venipede said, looking pleased, though it was a bit hard to judge her expression. “I’m the speed of Team Speed Shell.” She bapped the ball with one of her antennae and vanished in a bright light.
Both balls only wobbled once before making a rather familiar sort of pong noise as they successfully locked. I looked up to see Lucario stand up, and walk over to me. “I’m Cara.” She had a rather small smile on her face. “Please take care of us.” She picked up the pokeball and gently bapped herself on the shoulder, quickly being absorbed by the red light. Her ball didn’t even wobble, immediately making the noise and locking.
I took a deep breath, looking at the three pokeballs for a moment before I nodded. I quickly released all three of them, watching as they appeared in the room once more. They seemed a bit disorientated, but I figured that would be the case until they got used to it. Rio looked down at herself, and then up at me. “That was weird.”
Chapter Text
The next morning I boarded the train, having to show my Trainer ID to the conductor as I did. I chose a middle seat on the left side of the car, near the back. Or should I say we? It was an odd feeling to know that I was carrying three Pokemon. We had had a long discussion about it, and it seemed like they were aware of what was going on around, though it also felt like no time passed. I had read theories about how pokeballs worked, and it seemed like it was some sort of conscious half-stasis. They could also release themselves, though it took a lot of effort to do so.
Judging by the fact I now had a Riolu on my lap, it looked like Rio had the bad habit of releasing herself. “We’re on a train!” she said excitedly.
Thankfully the car was practically empty, and the conductor didn’t seem to care. “You can have your Pokemon out,” he explained after seeing my expression, “We just ask that you don’t release anything big, and if the train starts getting full to return them.”
I nodded. “Thank you.” I released Cara and Veny as well. Veny was immediately at the window with Rio, staring at the people walking by. Cara took the seat next to me, brushing off her lap as she did so.
The conductor gave a smile and a nod before he settled into his seat. “Hey, hey, when are we going?” Rio asked, bouncing a bit on the window seat. I had told them where we were going and why last night, but they seemed far more interested in the journey than the destination.
“The train will be leaving in a few minutes,” I said, patting the excited little dog on the head. There were a few other people on the train: a rather young boy with a Pidgey, two older women who were chatting about their grandchildren, who were apparently participating in the League, and a father-daughter pair sitting a few seats behind us.
Rio and Veny seemed excited, and I hoped that would last till we got to Ambrette. The trains were a welcomed sight honestly. They were the quickest way from town to town if you didn’t have a car or fast Pokemon. Apparently almost every town had two trains, and they would go on big loops to every town before it got back to the one it started in, while one train ran in the opposite direction as well. But this did mean some places you’d be on the train for a really long time.
Since we were starting in Santalune, we would travel through Odyssey Village, to Lumiose, to Camphrier, then Cyllage, and finally Ambrette. The fact that I saw Odyssey Village as one of the stops told me that places in the anime existed. Which I kind of expected, considering just how much bigger Santalune was compared to the game. Everything also just seemed…so much more. There was just more space than the games could show.
The trip would take a few hours, and later in the day we’d be taking a train back in the opposite direction, hopefully. I was actually excited to see Lumiose, since it was the biggest city in Kalos, and the second largest city in the whole Pokemon world.
Technically we could go anywhere, but Officer Jenny had met us at the train station. She was there partly to explain how the trains worked, but mostly to tell us that we were technically wards of Santalune and until I had my official Trainer's license I had to come back. It worked out because it was also the closest place to Kalos League City. Apparently it was an entire city, not just a place to go fight the Elite Four and the Champion.
If you weren’t participating in the League, you didn’t have to go up Victory Road and could just drive, or take a train. So I would be commuting in in order to watch. That was a pretty common thing apparently. There were hotels and things, but they were all booked months ago, and the Pokemon center there didn’t have any places for Trainers to stay. Apparently everyone who qualified got actual hotel rooms to stay in. This world was really favorable to Trainers.
Finally the whistle blew and the train started to move, much to the delight of Rio and Veny. Cara looked uncomfortable though. She put her hand on my leg, gripping one of the pockets of my pants. I gently pat her hand and smiled, though I had to be careful of her hand spike. That seemed to at least calm her down a bit, though she changed her grasp from my pants to my hand.
She had paw beans.
Before I realized it I was very distracted, examining her paw. Touching and rubbing at the textured pads on her fingers and palm. However after a moment she pulled her hand away, giving me an almost horrifiedly embarrassed look. “Sorry. I got distracted by your beans.”
“Beans?” she asked, even more confused.
“Ah- the uh… the pads you have on your hands.” I gestured to her paws.
She eyed me suspiciously before looking at her own hand. Her brow furrowed, not understanding. “What’s so interesting about them?”
“They have a nice texture, and are soft and warm,” I tried to explain, unsure if I could really justify the way I was fondling her hand.
I looked over at Rio and Veny, unable to really look at Cara now. That had been embarrassing, but I did it without thinking. “Beans?” I heard her mutter quietly to herself a few times. It was a struggle to not laugh.
There wasn’t much to look at in Odyssey, since it was a rather small village. But we did see the Rhyhorn race track. It looked like there wasn’t an actual race going on right now, but there were some Pokemon running the track. The train only slowed for a moment to see if anyone was waiting to board, but there was no one so it quickly regained speed.
Lumiose was more impressive than I thought it would be. There were a lot more buildings and people than I had imagined. The games and anime didn’t do it justice in the slightest. And Prism Tower was even grander. I had never seen the Eiffel Tower in person, but I wondered which one was more impressive?
The old women got off the train, and a lot of people got on. The car was almost full, and I was about to return the trio when a Trainer with a Delphox got on. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the way Cara tensed and I saw her hackles raise. I put a hand on her leg, patting her softly. “That’s a really bad matchup,” I said softly. “You’re weak to fire, and they’re resistant to fighting and steel.”
They didn’t even look back at us as they sat down near the front. It looked like they were the last ones on, and the car still had plenty of open seats. The train waited for a few minutes before taking off again. “I know that Delphox…” Cara said softly, still staring at them.
I looked over at them and then at her. “From where?”
“They beat me the other day,” her voice was low, obviously trying to hold back her anger. I guess mother and daughter really did not like losing.
“Do you know Bone Rush?” I asked, trying to get a good look at the Trainer.
Cara tilted her head, finally turning her attention to me. “No?”
I nodded a bit. “It’s a ground type move that Lucario’s can learn. It’s super effective against fire types. It’ll be a good move for you to learn.”
That seemed to perk her up a bit. Though her expression turned to one of confusion. “How do you know so much?”
“I like Pokemon,” I said honestly with a smile. “Maybe a bit too much,” I added with a shrug. Who knows how many tens of thousands of hours I had playing Pokemon. For some reason it was a lot easier to remember things about Pokemon, and I felt like I knew even more than I had ever learned. Maybe that was my transmigrator power?
I pulled out one of the Pokemon books that Professor Sycamore had given me. Apparently they were school books, the same stuff they were teaching kids about to go on their journey. They were extremely lacking. I had started to skim through them yesterday, and I immediately realized there were things missing. A lot of missing moves. Natural abilities were mostly unknown, something that was still being debated. There were still debates on whether fairy was a typing or just normal type.
And let’s not even bring up the breeding book. It was more like a small booklet. They didn’t even understand egg groupings. Egg moves were just a theory and didn’t even have a full paragraph of mention. It was overall useless. I knew more off the top of my head than was written in this book.
Then it came to care. That was…extremely basic. A lot of it was how to care for injured Pokemon in the wild when you couldn’t get to a pokecenter. How you need to feed your Pokemon. My Pokemon had been eating at the pokecenter, which made food for both people and Pokemon. The book included some basic recipes on essentially how to cook pokechow. There was a bit of information on berries, pokeblocks, poffins, poke puffs, and poke beans. But nothing on curries. Was that a Galar exclusive thing that hadn’t spread over here?
The book mentioned that diet was extremely important, and you should pay close attention to your Pokemon’s nutritional needs. But it looked like most Trainers ignored this. From what I knew from my past life, diet was extremely important to athletes. And that’s what Pokemon were; athletes. Taking in all that information I came to one conclusion…
I was going to have to cook a lot.
Half the car emptied when we arrived in Camphrier, including the Delphox and their Trainer. Only a few got on before we started off again. From the train we couldn’t get a good look at Shabboneau Castle, but I tried to point it out to Rio and Veny as we passed it. Their excitement at seeing so many things and going so fast hadn’t waned in the slightest.
The final book I had been given was the biggest. The book on training Pokemon. Most of the first few chapters were all about type advantage. It explained what beat what, and tried to explain the why. There were more details on moves, though I did notice many missing, and again there were arguments about fairy type moves. A lot of ‘In some researchers opinions’ and ‘certain people think’ before pretty much anything that had to do with fairy type.
A lot of the training tips actually seemed pretty useful, though the agility training reminded me a lot of dog show competitions. Which I suppose made sense. Weights and resistance bands were recommended. It explained that the more a Pokemon used a move, and the more ways they tried to use it, the better they would get at it. Teaching a Pokemon a new move was difficult, but Pokemon could teach other Pokemon moves fairly easily. It highly recommended the use of move tutors and TMs. But something that I found interesting was evidence that TM moves could be taught without the TM.
Practically everyone got off the train when we got to Cyllage, even the kid with the Pidgey. And no one got on. It looked like it was just my little group, and the man with his kid, going to Ambrette. Cyllage itself was an interesting city, and it even had a view of- “The ocean!” Rio exclaimed, bouncing excitedly. “Look, look! Mama! The ocean!” She was flailing her arms and gesturing outside, hopping over me to get to her mother.
Even Cara was fascinated by the water. It was probably her first time seeing the ocean as well. When the train turned and put the ocean on its right, all three Pokemon moved quickly to the other side of the car to watch the ocean. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the little girl doing the same.
I shared a look with the man and we both smiled and nodded. He had been reading something, the same as me. “First time to Ambrette?” he asked after a moment, and I nodded. “Same for her. We’re going to the aquarium for her birthday.” He sighed a bit, and then said in a quieter tone, “Least I could do since we can’t go see the league in person this year…”
“Ah, yeah I heard tickets were really hard to come by,” I replied with a nod.
“They get more expensive every year,” he said with a shake of his head. “I remember when I was a kid it was free.”
“It’s a shame. But they get more extravagant, too.”
He nodded to that. “Well, it’s all about the kids and their journey. You know anyone who’s participating?”
I shook my head. “Not personally. Professor Sycamore gave me tickets.”
“Ah, you’re a researcher,” he said with a nod, as if figuring out some sort of secret. “That’s why you look out of place. Where are you from? What brings you to Kalos?”
That was a good question. Well, I knew enough that I could be from anywhere, but if I had to pick the place in the Pokemon world that was closest to my last world- “I’m from Unova.”
He gave a whistle. “Well that’s real far. I was thinking Galar, but Unova. Wow. Don’t think I’ve met anyone from there.”
All I could really do was nod. “Yeah. I’m helping out Professor Sycamore, probably going to participate in this year's journey and try and get the badges while I’m here, see how I do in the League.”
“Ah, good idea. Yeah I’d probably take a swing at it too if I traveled that far,” he said with a chuckle. “An interesting team you’ve found already…”
“Mmm it’s more like they found me. But they all want to participate, so I figure I’ll train them up and see how they do.” They were still excitedly watching out the window. There were a bunch of gasps as off in the distance there was a Wailord. It had apparently startled a group of Mantyke and Mantine, as they were now frantically making an escape.
“That sounds like a wonderful journey… I’m a bit scared about when it’s my girl's time. I still have five years, but it still worries me,” he said with a sigh. He was a rather expressive man.
“I can imagine. But, there’s tons of resources for them. Rather than spending the energy worrying, you should spend that making sure she’s ready.” I was looking out the window, but I saw him look at me out of the corner of his eye. “The earlier you get a Pokemon, the better you get as a Trainer. You learn a lot of those teething steps while still in the safety of home.”
There was a moment of silence before he nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
“I know why the Association doesn’t do it, but I think Pokemon should be given earlier.” It had been something I had thought about when I had been reading the ‘How to Start a Journey’ section from my book.
Again the man nodded in agreement. “Yeah, if they gave them too early, kids would want to start their journey early. If we’re not careful, we’ll have a bunch of ten year olds traveling the world,” he said with a laugh.
I nodded and chuckled as well, it was what I had thought as well. The car returned to silence, aside from the Pokemon excitedly chattering to each other about the ocean and the Pokemon they could see. It was an amazing sight actually being able to look out and see Pokemon out there.
Shortly we came around a bend and the view was blocked, much to the disappointment of everyone. But it also meant we were almost there. As we rounded another corner, Ambrette came into view. It wasn’t a large town, mostly consisting of the aquarium and research center. The train came to a stop, and we departed, a few people getting on afterwards.
“Well, have a good time,” the man said as he pat me on the shoulder.
I nodded and smiled. “You too.” I looked down at the little girl. “And, happy birthday to you.” She hid behind her father, but she smiled. Walking away from the two, there were a lot of people. “Alright, return for the time.” Rio didn’t seem to want to, but Cara and Veny both immediately returned. With a huff Rio did as well.
That was another interesting thing. Pokemon could willingly return to their pokeballs without you needing to pull them out or point with them. You only needed to do that to force them back in, like if they lost consciousness or something. There was a range, and it was about fifty feet. Beyond that and the pokeball wouldn’t work. It also wouldn’t work if there was anything in the way, be it an object or a Pokemon or person.
Pulling out my cell phone, I called Professor Sycamore. It rang for a moment before he picked up. “Hello, this is Professor Sycamore.” The familiar figure of the Professor appeared on the screen.
“Hey, Prof. I’m in Ambrette. Where am I supposed to go now?” I asked, since he had refused to tell me any details yesterday.
There was a pause, and then he laughed. “Ah, right. Head over to the aquarium. Tell them who you are and who sent you. That should be it.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
I hung up on him with a sigh and shoved it back into my bag. I hope he found his little game amusing. Although I had to admit it was kind of exciting. I could deduce that since it was in the aquarium, it was probably a water starter. Walking into the aquarium I found an information kiosk with a woman behind it, who was currently helping out another guest, so I waited. From where I was standing I could see a large statue of a Magikarp. Gyarados was a powerful option, but a risky one.
How confident was I that I could raise one that wouldn’t be consumed by anger? Was that possible? If I could find a Magikarp that was gentle, and raise it kindly, would it be possible? There were stories people wrote about that, which I had really liked, that had people go through a lot of effort to have a more gentle Gyarados.
It was honestly no wonder that Gyarados was so full of rage. If I was a little fish that got nothing but abuse from literally everyone, I would probably be destructive too if I gained immense power. I was firmly in the opinion that just because it can’t fight, doesn’t mean that a Pokemon doesn’t deserve to be happy.
“How can I help you?” The voice snapped me back to what was in front of me. I realized that the other guests had already moved off.
“Ah, yes.” I cleared my throat, having gotten completely lost in my own thoughts. “My name is Jason, Professor Sycamore sent me here about a Pokemon.”
She blinked at me a moment before apparently suddenly realizing. “Ah! You’re the one. One moment, I’ll get Doctor Raily.” With that she turned and jogged off.
I stood there, wondering what exactly the Professor had said to get that sort of reaction. After a few minutes, the woman returned with another woman. This woman had dark red hair, a big lab coat, and absolutely huge glasses. “Ah, you’re the Pokemon expert that Professor Sycamore sent?”
I blinked, but before I even had the chance to respond, she continued.
“Good. I’m glad you’re here. Come along.” She turned and started speed walking. I had to jog a bit to catch up, and once I did she again didn’t give me a chance to talk. “We can’t find anything wrong with her, but she’s also a Pokemon we have little detail of because she’s from such a far away region.”
She led me to an outdoor enclosure; there was a large pool and a mass of land. There were a few people looking down at the little blue Pokemon who had their large red nose in the water, and was blowing bubbles. “A Popplio,” I said rather excitedly.
“Ah! Good! You know what she is.”
“Of course I do.” The Popplio line was my favorite, but I didn’t feel entirely comfortable telling her that, so instead I said, “She’s one of the starters from Alola.”
We moved to the edge of the enclosure, looking over at her. She didn’t even raise her head or acknowledge our presence. “Yes. There was an Alolan Trainer who passed through here, and their Primarina had an egg. However when it hatched he seemed to lose interest in it because it didn’t have the Torrent ability.”
I frowned, looking down at her. “That means she has Liquid Voice.”
Doctor Riley’s brow furrowed. “He said she had no ability? What is Liquid Voice?”
I frowned a bit more, and looked around. I could see a number of kiosks selling all manner of things from food, to toys, to information books. “It turns all sound-based moves into water type moves,” I explained as I made my way over to one of the kiosks. “It’s debatably far better than Torrent, but it sounds like the previous Trainer didn’t know.”
“I see, well that explains one thing, but that’s not the problem. She is extremely depressed and has hardly been eating,” the Doctor said as I suddenly grabbed something from the Kiosk before heading back. The man who was manning it looked like he was about to complain, but the Doctor quickly paid for the thing.
“Considering what happened to her, and her current environment, that doesn’t surprise me.” I moved back to the edge of the exhibit and tossed my bag as well as the thing I had taken from the kiosk over. The noise drew the Popplio's attention, but only enough for her to look over.
However what I did next drew her full attention. I leapt over the edge, landing with a splash in the shallows of the water. “Ah! We have stairs!” the Doctor exclaimed.
The water wasn’t deep, but it was enough to mostly absorb my landing. I moved over to my bag, under the gaze of not only the Doctor, but many patrons. But most importantly, I had the attention of the Popplio as I pulled myself out of the water. I quickly grabbed the thing I had taken; a bag with a balloon. It was one of those balloon toys with a rubber band at one end.
“What are you doing?” The Doctor asked as I began to blow up the balloon. That seemed to get the Popplio’s full attention, and she even sat up a bit. I blew it up as large as I could, and then held the rubberband, beginning to bap at the balloon so that it went back and forth in the air. I did this for a few moments, watching the Pokemons reaction.
“Do you wanna play?” I asked, tossing the balloon towards the Popplio. She easily caught it on her nose, adjusting a bit in order to balance it. There was a bit of a smile on her face. With a flick of her head, she sent it back to me, and I hit it in the air, sending it back towards her. She made a noise of delight as she quickly moved to intercept and catch the balloon.
Our little game lasted for almost an hour, my arms were a bit sore by the end, but the Popplio seemed in much better spirits, bouncing the balloon up and catching it for herself. She had also drawn a lot more of a crowd, who was delighting in the show. I had moved over to the wall, also enjoying her show off.
“Well, your methods are a bit strange, but I can’t deny the results,” the Doctor said, having come in through a nearby door.
“All calculated,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. “Popplio are a playful Pokemon that likes to play and show off. She’s very young, and hasn’t figured out how to blow her own bubbles yet.”
“So she needed a surrogate.”
I nodded. “And I needed to do something that would get her attention. Doing something out of the norm is a good way to get the attention of a playful Pokemon.”
She nodded a few times. “I had doubts when Professor Synclare said you were a Pokemon expert, but color me convinced.”
I laughed a bit, which drew the Popplio’s attention. Despite our play, she had not said anything to me, or approached me. She was still very cautious of people. I just gave her a smile. “She’s going to take a bit to warm up, but she’s a good girl. Just bored and lonely.”
“Will you be alright here by yourself? I have some things that need doing.”
“Ah, yes. I’ll be fine. If you could just send some food? Something for me, Popplio, and my three Pokemon. She’s probably really hungry after all that playing.” I was watching as Popplio had started to bounce the ball against the wall, delighting in the noise it made.
“Alright. I’ll have someone bring it for you,” she said before departing.
Popplio watched her go, and looked at me curiously. “Aren’t you leaving?” she asked, finally speaking to me.
I shook my head. “No, I’m staying here. They’re going to bring food for you and me, and my other friends.”
“Friends?”
This time I nodded. “Yeah. Would you like to meet them?”
There was a bit of hesitation before she nodded. I smiled as I released the trio. “Whoa, where are we?” Rio asked, looking around before spotting Popplio.
“We’re in the aquarium. Literally. We’re in one of the exhibits where Popplio is staying.” Cara moved over and sat next to me. It was honestly really cute how she consistently did that.
There was a moment of silence before Rio looked at Popplio again. “Hey, do you wanna play with us?” I had a feeling that Rio’s outgoing personality would be a good choice, but I would have to reign her in if Popplio didn’t want to play.
Thankfully Popplio nodded, hopping over to them with her balloon ball. It quickly became a game of ‘keep the ball in the air’ between the three of them. They set the space into three different areas, and passed it around in a circle. As time went on, I really saw just how fast Veny was. I was sure she didn’t have quick feet ability, due to the lack of a status effect, so she must have speed boost.
After a bit longer, a few people dressed as staff came in carrying trays of food. “Wow, who would have thought I’d get to see that one so happy,” one of them said as he moved over to where I was sitting before handing me a tray, and putting the other one he was carrying down in front of Cara.
“Sometimes you have to look at Pokemon as more than just creatures,” I said, looking into the tray to see quite an extravagant meal.
The guy shrugged, the other two also put down their trays and pulled out bowls of pokechow, though there seemed to be other stuff mixed in with the food. Rio shouted, giving the balloon a rather hard punch into the air, “Yeah! Food time!”
Veny quickly rushed over to join as well, although Popplio hesitated. All the food was placed near me. She was balancing the balloon on her tail as she thought over the situation. “Do you want to eat over there?” I asked, which drew the attention of Rio, who looked puzzled as to why Popplio was still over there.
But before Rio could talk, I put my hand on her head and began to pet the little canine. Slowly, hesitantly, reluctantly, Popplio came over. She settled in front of her bowl and began eating, keeping her eyes on me.
I paid her no attention as I began to eat. Those were some bad mental scars, and it was going to take more work to gain her trust. Rio and Veny excitedly talk about how to make their little balloon game more fun, like adding obstacles and things on the ground. It took a bit before Popplio added to the conversation, suggesting that they add the pool to the game area. They all agreed, and once they were done eating they ran off to continue playing.
“Looks like Team Speed Shell is getting another member,” Cara said softly.
“I’m not sure,” I said honestly, watching the three of them play. “I hope so, but that little girl doesn’t trust me. I don’t know if her mother was in agreement, but her Trainer ditched her here.” I could feel the jackals' anger rise from that revelation. “I want to take her, but if she doesn’t want to go with me, then I’ll have to figure out a different way to help her.”
“Even if she didn’t come, you’d still help?” She was looking at me.
I glanced at her before nodding. “I would have done the same for you, as I said. You coming along just makes it easier, and with better company.”
She let out a little snerk sound, which almost sounded like a bark. “You really just wanna help, huh?”
“I like Pokemon.” I turned my attention back to Popplio. “And every Pokemon deserves to be happy…”
“Even if they can’t help you?”
I pointed a finger at her. “Especially if they can’t help me. Someone's worth shouldn’t determine if they get to live a good life.”
She stared at my finger for a moment before she nodded. We both became quiet, just watching the three of them play. At one point I had gathered up all of the dishes and placed them onto the only tray that they left. The three of them had not taken a break, only making their game more and more elaborate. It was actually really good training.
The nice atmosphere was broken by Doctor Riley coming back. “The aquarium is closing.” She looked a bit bothered that we were still here. “The last train to Santalune will be leaving in an hour.”
“Ah, alright.” I stood up, picking up my bag as I did. “Alright everyone, we’re going back,” I called out.
Rio and Veny both slumped a bit. “Awww… Do we have to?” Rio asked, and I nodded. They both sighed, but nodded, Rio batting the balloon back towards Popplio, who caught it on her tail.
Cara nodded before disappearing in red light and returning to her ball. Veny said goodbye to Popplio before skittering over and also vanishing when she got close. Rio was really dragging her feet about it, but eventually she sighed and waved goodbye before returning to her pokeball.
I gave Popplio a smile as she approached, crouching down to be closer to her level. She held out the balloon to me. “No, it’s okay. You can keep it. Doctor Riley’s the one who bought it.”
She looked over at the Doctor, who startled at the attention suddenly being turned to her. But she nodded, pushing up her glasses. “Yes, it’s perfectly alright that you keep it. And if it pops, we can get you a new one.”
Popplio looked at the balloon. “It was really nice to meet you, Popplio.” I gave her a really big smile. “You’re one of my favorite Pokemon, and getting to see you was wonderful.”
“I’m your favorite?” she asked softly.
I smiled a bit more at her and nodded. “Mhm.”
There were a few tears in her eyes as I stood up. I didn’t get more than two steps before she suddenly rolled and sprang up in front of me, her flippers off to the side to try and block me. “I-!” She was full on crying now. “I don’t want to be here! I don’t like it here!”
Slowly I crouched down in front of her.
Her arms fell limp to her side and her head drooped. “No one plays with me! The people say mean things! They call me a clown! I can’t even blow bubbles!” Tears ran down her nose, making a puddle in front of her.
I moved forward slowly, gently picking her up. She pressed her face into my chest, loudly sobbing. “I’m sorry,” I said softly, gently rubbing her back. I thought I was going to have to come back in a day or two before I was going to ask her to come with me. “Do you want to come with me?”
“Uh-huh…” she mumbled out, nodding her head.
With a nod, I slowly stood up. “Where’s her pokeball?” I asked Doctor Riley. “I’m gonna take her with me.”
She nodded, the shadow of something angry flickering over the woman's face. “Alright, this way. We keep it right over here.” Just through the door was a staff only section, and right beside the door was a little case that she opened, pulling out a pristine white premier ball.
I had to shift Popplio’s weight a bit in order to take it, but I didn’t return her, instead I put the ball onto my belt. “Thank you, Doctor Riley.”
She nodded again, and gestured towards her right. “The exit is that way. Have a nice day.” It really sounded like I had made her mad, but I didn’t care. I made my way out of the aquarium, moving over to stand at the train station. There were a few people waiting, but it looked like the majority of people had taken the earlier train.
Popplio was still crying, though she had quieted down. There wasn’t really anything to say, I just had to be here for her now and take her away from this place. Honestly I don’t understand what any of them were thinking. The Trainer abandons her and they just…shove her into an exhibit? Heartless bastards.
The train came to a stop close by, and I double checked that it was going to Santalune before boarding. I made my way to the back, sitting down in the most empty part so that people didn’t bother Popplio. It felt like the trip took longer, but by the time we hit Camphrier Town, the sun had started to set, and the little blue Pokemon had cried herself to sleep.
~
It was dark by the time the train pulled into Santalune, and I made my way to the Pokecenter. As I entered I locked eyes for a moment with Nurse Joy, who immediately stood up and began to make her way over to me. “She’s fine,” I said quickly, though softly. “She’s just asleep.”
Nurse Joy’s pace slowed as she nodded, still coming over to take a look at her. “Okay. What Pokemon is this?”
“It’s a Popplio. They’re the Alolan water starter. She’s exhausted herself, but tomorrow I want to get her an exam.” I was trying to speak softly so as to not rouse the little thing. I placed my hand on her back so that I could feel her breathing to make sure she was still asleep. “Not that I don’t trust the Ambrette Aquarium staff, but I don’t trust the Ambrette Aquarium staff. Especially since their first thought was to shove her into an exhibit.”
“Did you steal her?” Nurse Joy asked almost immediately.
I did my best to stifle my laughter, letting out a snort. “No. But I probably would have if I saw her and knew the story.” After saying that I gave a quick history of the little blue thing's life, as well as how she was being treated at the aquarium.
Nurse Joy looked appalled. “After that sort of trauma they just left her alone?”
I shrugged a bit. We had moved over to her desk while we talked. “A lot of people, especially researchers I’ve noticed, don’t see Pokemon as anything more than tools or dumb animals.” It really came across in the tone of how the books were written.
She nodded a bit, frowning. She had probably seen a lot of that. It looked like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself and instead just sighed. “I can do a checkup on her tomorrow.”
After taking a deep breath, I nodded. I couldn’t see or feel anything wrong with her, but I wasn’t a pokedoctor. That made me have a thought. “Nurse Joy? How hard is it to get a medically trained Pokemon?”
There was a moment of silence where she just blinked at me. “You mean…like Wigglytuff?”
“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “I know that there are a variety of medically trained Pokemon. Other Nurse Joys use Chansey’s, and they use Indeedee in Galar, Alola uses Comfey and Blissey, Audino in Unova, and here in Kalos you all use Wigglytuff. There are a bunch of individual cases of other things, but that’s the generalness of it.”
She continued to stare at me, blinking. “Did your memory come back?”
Slowly my smile fell. “No. But for some reason…I remember every detail I have ever learned about Pokemon.” I looked down at Popplio, who was still asleep. “Which is… Which is a good thing, right?” I felt a bit bad about lying to Nurse Joy, but I didn’t know if telling the truth would be a good thing.
“I wonder what sort of job you had? Professor Sycamore called you a Pokemon expert.” She had placed a hand on her chin with a thoughtful expression. “Though… returning to your question, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been asked about someone wanting a medically trained Pokemon.”
“It was just a thought I had.” It was actually an idea I was stealing from some Pokemon stories that I had read, but it always sounded like a good idea, so I might as well try. “It would mean being able to immediately treat not only my Pokemon, but others as well when battling out in the wilderness.”
She slowly nodded. “Well, I’m not sure but… Doesn’t hurt to ask, I guess? I’ll give my cousin a call. She does all the Pokemon medical training for Kalos, Galar, Paldea, and Unova.”
I gave her a smile. “Thanks. I also thought it might be a good idea to have someone who was trained because of my uh… condition.”
Realization slowly dawned on her and she nodded a bit more enthusiastically. “Oh, yes. That would be incredibly helpful in case anything happens later on when you can’t get to proper medical facilities.”
“Yeah, what are the chances of finding a Lucario that’s willing to carry me to a Pokemon Center twice.” I chuckled a bit, trying to keep the movement to a minimum to not disturb Popplio.
“Right,” she said, giggling a bit in turn. “Well, I’ll contact my cousin and see.”
I nodded. “Again, thanks for trying.”
With that, I bid her goodnight and headed back to my room. Once inside, Rio popped out immediately without even waiting for me to close the door. “Operation steal friend was a success,” she said, sounding very proud of herself.
“It wasn’t stealing. I was told to go get her,” I retorted. The other two also popping out of their pokeballs.
“But you weren’t sure you were going to take her?” Cara asked as we all sat down on the bed.
“Oh I knew I was going to take her the moment I saw her. Heck, even before that when Professor Sycamore was being all mysterious about it, I was fairly sure I would take her.” I had to think for a moment. Was there any starter that I wouldn’t take? I shook my head. “No, there was no way I wasn’t taking her. All the starter Pokemon are good.”
The room fell silent after that, and I carefully laid down. Veny’s spot had been taken by Popplio, so she moved to smush in under my other arm, since my left was taken by Cara. Rio snuggled into the spot next to her mother on top of me, half laying on both of us. When these Pokemon started to evolve, I was going to end up being crushed.
~
In the morning, Popplio was reintroduced to everyone. Though she was a bit nervous at first, Rio and Veny quickly incorporated her into Team Speed Shell, though they didn’t know what sort of role she would be in. I wondered where they got the idea for teams like that. Was it an idea they got from watching Trainers? Or was there some sort of mystery dungeon stuff at play? That would be a completely different concern.
The three of them played a bit, mostly Rio was showing off her strength by lifting Popplio up, while Veny showed her speed by doing laps around the room. It was rather amusing to watch, though I could see that the little blue seal was concerned. “I don’t know what I’m good at…” she said after a time.
“We’ll figure it out,” I said with a smile, which drew all of their attention. “If you want to be strong, I’ll do everything I can to help you be strong. If you don’t want to fight, that’s fine. If you want to do competitions, we can do that. If you wanna be lazy and get fat, that’s fine too,” I said the last bit with a bit of a chuckle.
Popplio made a face at me, and I could tell she was trying to blow bubbles at me, but nothing came out.
“I want to battle!” Rio declared.
Veny nodded eagerly. “Yes yes. I want to battle.”
“I agree. I want…” Cara stood up, standing in front of me. “I want to win.”
There was a large smile on my face, and I looked down at Popplio. “It’s okay to not want to fight, but if you have the drive, I will help.”
She looked thoughtful for a few moments, taking the decision quite seriously. It was rather important. Pokemon seemed to have this innate instinct to become stronger, to fight. It was something that I had thought about in the game, but it’s described in the book about Pokemon that the majority of them enjoy it.
Suddenly Popplio nodded. “Yes. I wanna fight, too.”
I nodded. “Alright. We’ll need to do some work on understanding your movesets. First, I want to-”
A knock at the door interrupted me. I looked over at the door, which Cara opened. Professor Sycamore was on the other side. “Ah, Jason. Good, you’re awake- And I see you made a new friend.” He was looking at the new addition to my little group.
“Yes. Can I help you, Professor?” I asked, looking at the way Cara was eyeing him as if he was a potential enemy, moving over to me as if to guard me. The other three had gone back to playing. Wrestling was the current state of things, both Veny and Popplio having to team up on Rio to make it fair.
“A few things. First I wanted to check in. You haven’t answered your phone.” He gave me a look.
I blinked at him and reached for my bag. Pulling out the cell phone I had shoved in the bag. “Oh no. It seems I forgot about it…” I muttered, seeing I had two missed messages from the Professor.
There was a rather disappointed look on his face, but he shook his head. “I got a rather irate phone call last night, about a disrespectful young man making a mess of an exhibit.” His expression changed to a rather amused one as he spoke.
All I could really do was shrug. “Maybe they should treat their Pokemon better.”
He nodded a bit. “Second-” He paused to look around the hallway before closing the door. “After asking, I found out about Professor Laventon. I had to ask Professor Magnolia, who was quite surprised to hear about him.”
“Ah so he is from Galar, that was hinted at.” I nodded a bit.
The Professor had a look on his face, one that I couldn’t quite understand the meaning of but I knew he was thinking. After a moment he nodded. “Anyways, it seems that your other world thing holds a bit more possibility. I’ve asked Juniper and Oak about it…”
“Ah, I bet Professor Oak took it very well. He was probably very interested.”
There was a rather blank expression on his face now. He was quite expressive. “Yes. He gave me a number that he wants you to call him at.” I watched as he took out his own phone and sent a quick message. After a moment my phone buzzed with a message, which was Professor Oak’s contact details.
“Oh, awesome. Man, I’d love to talk to Professor Oak. He’s iconic.” I was tempted to call him immediately, but I felt that would be rude while Professor Sycamore was here.
“Yeah. Juniper said she would have to look at some things, but would get back to me.” His attention was turned to the three roughhousing Pokemon on the floor of the room. “I’m glad things worked out. I was honestly thinking about just going and getting her myself.”
I took a moment to look at him. There was a question I wanted to ask, but I was worried about what the answer was. “How long?”
The smile faded from his face and he sighed softly. “He participated in last year's League.”
I had to grab hold of Cara’s wrist to stop her from going forward. She was pissed. I had seen the way her hand clenched and her aura flared slightly, she was going to attack him. That wasn’t a thing that I could allow her to do, even if I thought he deserved it.
The Professor noticed it, too, and took a step back towards the door. Cara turned her attention on me and I slowly shook my head. “He let her be like that for over a year,” she argued, trying to convince me. It seemed she had already adopted the little thing.
“I know. And he gets to live with that,” I responded softly. “Some people don’t see Pokemon as anything more than things.”
He cleared his throat. “That’s a bit harsh… But I understand where you’re coming from. I’ve already scheduled for the aquarium to be receiving a surprise inspection rather soon. I misplaced my trust in that they would properly handle the situation.”
That seemed to calm Cara down a bit, though she still looked like she wanted to deck the Professor. “Hopefully that gives them the appropriate attitude adjustment.”
He gave a slight cough and nodded. “Yes. Well, I’m going to be heading off now. Busy and all that. Try and keep your phone on, alright?”
I nodded. “Alright.”
After he left, I saw the way that Cara seemed to slump, sitting back down on the bed. This whole situation probably hit pretty close to home with her. My grip loosened on her wrist, rubbing gently at the back of her hand around the spike.
She looked at me out of the corner of her eye before huffing and moving over to the other three, but I saw the way she smiled a bit. My attention turned to the phone. It was like a fairly early model of smartphone. There was a phone app, a pokedex app, a Trainer battle app that synced with your Trainer ID, and a banking app. But other than that it was pretty bare bones.
I hesitated, looking at the contact information for Professor Oak. “Hey,” I got everyone’s attention. “I want all of you to get a check up with Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff. And then after that, we’ll do some battling.”
“Yeah!” Rio was immediately excited, her fists in the air.
That made me smile as I pulled out their pokeballs. Popplio immediately had a look, but the three of them immediately comforted her. “It’s alright,” Cara said, patting her softly on the head. “He’s good.”
I was actually really glad that that worked, and that they all seemed to think of me that way. “It shouldn’t take that long. And Nurse Joy will be happy to see you,” I reassured.
There was still a lot of hesitation in the Popplio, but after a moment she nodded. “Okay.”
They all returned to their pokeballs, and I made my way out. I found Nurse Joy quickly at the front. “Ah, Jason, good morning. Did you want me to check up on Popplio?”
I nodded as I placed all four pokeballs onto the small tray in front of her. “Yes, please. And if you could look over the others as well. They want to start battling more and I want to make sure they’re in good shape to do it.”
She smiled and nodded. “Of course.” She picked up the tray, and was about to turn when she suddenly stood up straighter. “Oh! I almost forgot. My cousin said that she might have a Pokemon for you, but you’d have to come and meet them all in person to see if any want to go with you.”
“Oh, well, that makes sense. Where do I have to go?” That was actually really exciting news.
“The Pokemon Medical Training Center is right outside Geosenge Town. She’s a bit busy right now, but she’ll be free once the League starts the day after tomorrow, so any time after that. Though she’s probably going to get busy again when the next journey starts, so the visit will have to be during the League.” She was explaining all this while walking to the back, and I was following her.
“Alright. I can do that… Probably the second week of the League?”
She nodded. “First two weeks are the Prelims. Third week is the actual Pokemon Tournament. And the last week is Elite Four battles, and maybe a Champion fight.” I was actually really glad that someone had explained it to me because I had been wondering how it worked.
“So, second week then. Outside of Geosenge.” That was really exciting for multiple reasons. There was Reflection Cave, which was supposed to be an absolutely beautiful sight. And there was also- I stopped walking. “I’ll be in my room when you’re done, alright? I’ve- I’ve got a phone call to make.”
“Oh of course. Shouldn’t take too long,” she said with a smile. “I’ll let her know when to expect you, here’s her contact information.” She handed me a piece of paper before heading off.
I stood there for a few moments as I watched her leave. Team Flare. The Ultimate Weapon. Were those a thing in this world? Was I going to have to deal with that in some way? Should I even try? I had no idea about the timeline of events, or if they’re actually going to occur. Guess I’ll just keep an eye out for hints and help out if I can. Although I should probably take a look while I’m there, just to see if it’s there. I haven’t seen any hints of Team Flare, but then again I haven’t seen much of anything outside of the Pokecenter.
With a sigh I went to grab some food quickly, before heading back to my room. I hadn’t thought about it when I had called Sycamore yesterday, but using the phone to call was a bit interesting, as it was a video call and I had never really done those in my previous life. It didn’t take long before it was answered and I saw an oddly nostalgic looking man on the screen. “Hello, this is Professor Oak.” It looked like he was at a terminal, rather than having a phone, and behind him was a rather plain looking wall.
I couldn’t help but smile, finding it oddly comforting to hear that man’s voice. “Hello Professor, my name is Jason. I believe Professor Sycamore told you about me?”
“Ah!” He smiled. “The otherworlder! Yes, he did.”
“Good, good. It’s honestly a relief that you sound far more accepting of the circumstances.” I sat down on the bed.
“Yes, well, I’ve seen all sorts of stuff. But, I do have some skepticism, so I want to ask you some questions.”
I nodded. “Alright.”
“There was mention that you know a lot about Pokemon, and the people in this world because of…video games and cartoons in your world, correct?” He was looking down at something, probably a little notebook.
“Yes, that’s right. But that’s only if what I know lines up with this world. There are a lot of… things that could be off,” I responded, still not sure how exactly this world lined up. It seemed to follow more of the anime than anything else.
“Don’t be worried if you can’t answer any of them, but if what you told Sycamore is true, you should know some of them. But we’re going to start with me, since Sycamore said I was one of the first suggestions you made. So you should be familiar with me, right?”
I nodded again. “Yeah, I think I am.”
“Then let's begin. What’s my strongest Pokemon?”
“Charizard, of course. Your Dragonite is a close second. Though I think your Tauros is probably a bit more dangerous,” I responded.
He rubbed at his chin. “Where am I from?”
“Pallet Town in Kanto.”
“What’s my grandson's name?”
“Gary. You also have a granddaughter named Daisy. And a cousin named… Melvin? Marvon? No it’s an s… Sss- Samson.”
That caused him to blink a few times. “Those cartoons in your world go into a lot of detail, eh?”
“You’re the most prominent professor in them,” I explained.
He nodded a bit, again rubbing his chin. “Though you could find out that information pretty easily… Let’s move onto some questions about Pokemon. How many Pokemon do you know about?”
“Over a thousand.”
His brow arched. “That many?”
“Well, some of them don’t exist anymore, or don’t exist yet?” I shook my head. “Timelines are a bit muddled. But you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you, Professor?”
He looked both confused. “What do you mean?”
“Not that I don’t want to spend hours answering questions, let me tell you something that no one knows about.” That seemed to pique his interest. I really hoped that the movies were canon in this universe. “When you were a child, you met Celebi.” That caused the smile on his face to slowly melt away into a more stunned expression. “I honestly don’t know where I am in the timeline… but if Ash is on his Journey, then it should be about forty years?”
“Ash…started his Journey two years ago.”
“Then he should be in… Johto? Or Hoenn?” I wasn’t sure of how exactly timelines would match up.
“He’s in Hoenn,” Professor Oak said, still sounding rather stunned.
So it seems that the League’s are staggered in some way. And the Orange League is probably different from official League’s, if he even did that. “So he’s about to participate in the Ever Grande Conference…” I frowned a bit. He lost in that League, too. “It’s kinda sad he lost…but it was a good fight.”
“He loses?” Oak suddenly asked, seeming to snap out of whatever rut he had fallen into.
“Ah-” Should I tell him stuff about the future? “Uh…yeah. He doesn’t… He doesn’t win very many. But it doesn’t upset him, and he actually has a lot of fun and does pretty well. The kids got a lot of heart, and though it was rough for him in- in the beginning, he really grows into a good Trainer.”
There was a moment of silence before Oak nodded. “Yeah. He’s a good one.”
“And that Pikachu is a freaking monster. Where the hell did you get that thing from?”
Oak actually laughed. “He was…surrendered to me by a Ranger. He was deemed too aggressive to release, and too violent for Trainers. But… I immediately knew it was Ash’s when I saw it, so I held onto him.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah… Also, total dick move to tell Ash you’ve got no Pokemon for him, when you absolutely did.”
Again he laughed, though this time it was more of a chuckle. “Well, it was his fault for forgetting to turn in his starter request form.”
“Yeah he was… a bit scattered at the start…” I remembered sitting on the floor in the living room, watching the anime. “Maybe I’ll meet him one day…”
“If you do, you can’t tell him anything about his future. Celebi warned me that knowing the future was far more dangerous than anything the future can actually contain,” he sounded a bit worried.
But I nodded. “Yeah. I honestly didn’t intend on telling you, either, but I slipped up. Celebi would probably be upset with me. But I don’t think I have to worry about Dialga, since it was Arceus who sent me here in the first place.”
Oak nodded a bit. “Yes, probably. But I think Celebi would be far more interested in you than upset.”
I chuckled, and nodded. “Honestly I would love to meet them. Maybe I’ll get the chance when I go to Johto.”
“Oh, you’re planning to travel all the way out here?”
I nodded. “I… I want to see this world that I only ever got to see on the other side of a screen. Actually being here is… so exciting. It’s like being dropped into the world of your favorite story.”
Again Oak nodded at my words. “Yes, that would be very exciting.”
Taking in a deep breath, I turned my attention back to Professor Oak. “So? What’s your conclusion, Professor?”
He leaned back in his chair, looking off into the distance above whatever he was using to talk with me. “I think that your otherworld must be a thing, because the alternative to how you have the knowledge that you have would be terrifying.”
I nodded to that. “Yes, I’m fairly worried about what sort of alternatives there could be…”
“Yes. Well, I am quite confident now that you are indeed from another world. Which is fascinating. When you come to Kanto, you’ll have to sit and have a long talk with me about it.”
I smiled at that and nodded. “Yeah. That actually sounds pretty good. I don’t know what sort of world route I’m going to go, but I’ll be there eventually.”
“If you need my help with anything, don’t hesitate to call.” It sounded like Professor Oak was keen on getting to other work.
“Alright. Thank you, Professor. I will.” We said our goodbyes and he hung up. I stared at the phone for a moment, taking in the fact that I had just spoken to Professor Oak. That made all of this feel so much more… real. I still had doubts. I still wasn’t sure if this wasn’t just some hallucination, or false memories, or maybe a coma dream. But at least right now, I felt better about it.
While I was waiting for Nurse Joy, I looked through the pokedex app. It was surprisingly bare. Missing Pokemon, and missing information on the Pokemon that it did have. It was unfortunately completely useless to me. It actually gave me a bit of a headache how little there was. What were all these researchers doing?
There was nothing else on the phone. It could make calls, the texting app was absolutely bare bones; I had to download a better one. I also had to download a camera app, even though there was a camera built into the phone it didn’t come with one. I found out later that the reason was it wasn't designed to be able to do that. Something about damaging the photography industry. Other than that there were hardly any other apps that I could download. A calendar app. A note taking app. There was no map? There weren’t even any games. No games on my phone.
My phone also had no access to the internet. Or at least, what this world called its internet. It was almost nonexistent, seemingly something that was fairly new or at least decades behind my previous one. It was mostly just text websites and IRC chat rooms, and images were extremely rare and took forever to load. Oddly missing were research papers, or any sort of discussion platforms. No social media at all. Although interestingly enough there were a few conspiracy blogs, but it looked like people really did not spend any time at all online. That didn't really surprise me considering the world seemed extremely Trainer focused.
My disappointment was interrupted by a knock at the door, and a large pink figure entering. In the Wigglytuff's hands was a tray with my pokeballs. “Everyone looks fine, though the Popplio is suffering from malnutrition. We’ve given her some supplements, and they’ve all been fed now, but she probably shouldn’t battle today.”
I nodded a bit, taking the pokeballs from the tray. “I kind of figured she would be… They said she hadn’t been eating much.”
She tucked the tray under her arm and nodded. “Your Pokemon mentioned that they were going to battle, but I did warn her that she shouldn’t battle today. I expect that to be followed.”
“I’m not going to argue against a nurse's orders,” I said with a smile, standing up to put the pokeballs onto my belt.
“You better not,” she said, though her tone was a bit more playful than strict.
I had to stop myself from patting her on the head, instead I held onto the strap of my bag to keep my hands to myself. “I’m going to do a bit of training with them first. I need to know what moves they have in order to battle effectively. Would something like that be alright for Popplio?”
Her face scrunched a bit as she thought about it, but eventually nodded. “Some light things should be fine, but just nothing rough.”
“Of course. Thank you, Wigglytuff.” I watched for a moment as she waddled away before I made my way out to the battle ground. A Wigglytuff would be a good choice for my team’s nurse. Now that I was thinking about it, most of the Nurse Joy Pokemon were pink. Was that on purpose or coincidence?
The battle fields weren’t as crowded as yesterday, probably because the League started soon. But there were still a lot of people. It took me a while to find an out of the way area that was actually set up to be a training ground. It was a rather large area, with low fences all around. It even had a sign to designate it as a training area, and a request that no big moves be used here.
There was only one other Trainer there, trying to teach a Chespin something. Rollout, if I had to guess from the way it was trying to tuck and roll. They seemed fairly young from a glance, probably starting their Journey after the League.
That wasn’t really my concern, so I headed towards the other end of the grounds and released everyone. “Alright. So, before we battle, I want to get a feel for what moves you know. This will also tell me what we need to practice.” I pulled out my phone, planning to record their demonstrations. “Who wants to go first?”
Rio was the first to volunteer, doing a quick run through of all the moves she knew. It really showed me that levels meant nothing when it came to learning moves. She knew Force Palm, which was something she’d learn above level thirty, but she didn’t know Feint. Her Vacuum Wave was probably her strongest move, which probably meant she relied on it a lot.
Cara was next, and though she knew a lot more moves than Rio, it was obvious that Rio had learned from her as she also didn’t know Feint. But she did know some higher level moves that I wouldn’t have expected, like Meteor Mash and Close Combat. And like I thought previously, she did know Extreme Speed. Her Aura Sphere was a vibrant purple, but rather unimpressive, at least compared to how it looked in the anime or games.
Veny was probably the most surprising. Not only did she know a plethora of poison moves, but she also knew Rollout and Agility. She also definitely had the Speed Boost ability, because the more she showed off, the faster she got. But what absolutely shocked me was that she knew Extreme Speed. That shouldn’t be something she can learn, at least by game logic. That would require later testing.
Popplio was a different story. She hardly knew any moves. She did know Water Gun, but it was the only water move she knew. Though she was more than a little embarrassed to show them off, she also knew Disarming Voice and Sing. Sing got us all pretty good, but she stopped before any of us actually passed out. But this poor little seal was going to be needing the most attention when it comes to training. She was young, and with no interaction with other Pokemon, her learning had been severely stunted.
That was actually good information. Young Pokemon seem to develop moves as they play. I had noticed this as the three of them played, and all three of them were using softer versions of their moves. Trying to make the training into games would probably be a good way to teach them things. But for now, I wanted to try out a little battling.
We all sort of made our way to the battle grounds, watching the few battles that were going on. Though we didn’t get to watch for very long before a kid came over and asked, “You here for battles, or just to watch?” He was actually pretty polite.
“Oh, yeah, we were looking to battle. These three are ready,” I gestured to Rio, Cara, and Veny. “But this one is just watching today,” I said as I picked up Popplio.
He gave a nod. “Cool. Can I battle that one?” He pointed at Veny.
I nodded. “Sure.” We moved over to one of the open battlefields, and I handed Popplio over to Cara before moving into position. It was an extremely intense feeling. My first battle. Even though I judged that this kid must be no older than fourteen, he was probably using his parents' Pokemon.
Veny quickly followed and stepped into the field in front of me. This was her first official battle as well. I could tell Rio was a bit upset that she didn’t get to go first, but she would just have to deal with that. “Go, Talonflame!” He tossed the ball out.
Alright, young, but he knew type advantage. There was a moment of flash as the bird announced itself, “Yeah! Let’s do this!”
“Agility,” I said, before the kid could finish calling out his move.
“Flame Charge!” The flaming bird bounced off the ground, having struck the spot that Veny had just been in. “Again!”
“Extreme Speed.” Veny rushed and sprang forward, slamming into the Talonflame before it had a chance to ignite itself again.
“Dang it, Ember!”
“Agility.” Bits of flame peppered the ground where Veny was, however she didn’t escape fully unscathed this time. There were just too many little things of flame.
“Roost!”
I blinked, looking at the kid. I guess I was giving him way too much credit. “Toxic.” The bird was splattered in the purple goop that Veny spat out. “Venoshock.” Veny prepared and spat out a more concentrated glob.
“Aerial Ace!” The Talonflame charged straight through the poison and slashed past Veny, knocking her off to the side.
“Rollout!” I called, trying to get her to take advantage of the momentum. It didn’t quite work, as she had practically came to a stop before she had managed to curl up properly. Something to work on.
“Ah- uh- Agility!” The kid called, which caused the first Veny ball to miss, but she quickly rebounded and slammed into it on the return.
The blow sent the Talonflame to the ground, getting up with a bit of struggle. There was purple goop dripping from its beak. “Stupid kid,” it said, shaking its head. Just before Veny could strike it again, it leapt up, soaring into the sky.
“Wide circle!” I called out. “It’ll be coming down fast! Get ready for it!”
In the sky, the Talonflame burst into green flames and began their descent. Veny rolled to the other edge of the field, having circled it twice before she straightened out, prepared to meet them head on. The two crashed into each other at a great speed, actually causing a small explosion of green flame.
As the dust settled, I saw Veny, dizzy and bruised, but still on her feet. I looked over at the Talonflame, who coughed up a bit of purple, and let out a soft “Damn…” before falling forward into the dust.
“Talonflame!” the kid cried out, rushing to the bird. He quickly picked the bird up and began sprinting to the pokecenter. I didn’t even have a chance to say anything to him. Although I did hear his final words of, “Dad is gonna kill me!”
“Did I win?” Veny asked, a little confused.
I nodded. “You did.”
There was a moment of silence. “I won!” she screamed, rushing towards us. “Rio! I won!” The two practically collided.
Honestly I was surprised that Rio not only stopped the charging bug but even picked her up. “You won! We’re winners! We can win battles!” they chattered excitedly.
“People these days…bullying children,” a voice said from behind.
Chapter 3
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Riolu - Daughter of Cara
Veni - Venipede - Adopted daughter of Cara
Popplio - Popplio - Rescued from aquarium
Chapter Text
“People these days…bullying children.” Those words caused me to frown, and I looked back to see an older looking man, giving me a disappointed look. How dare he. That was my line. How dare he try and apply that to me.
“You here to try and bully me, too?” I retorted. “Are you going to choose one of my first stages, and then send out a third stage with double type advantage to fight them?” I looked the man up and down, he was dressed rather nicely. “That kid wasn’t dumb, he just panicked when he didn’t immediately stomp me like he thought he would.”
The man scowled at me, clearly not expecting to be talked back to. “You should talk to your elders with respect.”
“Respect is earned,” I responded. There were a whole bunch of other things on my mind to say to him, but he wasn’t worth it.
However I seemed to only make him more upset. “Then I’ll teach you how to show respect.” He moved over to the other side of the battle arena.
“Cara, you’re up,” I said as I moved back into the square. “Fighting steel,” I called out to the older man. “Her weaknesses are fighting, ground, and fire. Just in case you wanna try and double advantage on her.”
To my slight surprise, the Pokemon he sent out was Pangaro. The large panda-like Pokemon towering over her at nearly twice her height. “Hammer Arm,” He said before Cara had even finished getting into position.
“Meteor Mash.” The two blows struck almost simultaneously. I saw as the Pangaro winced at punching the steel covered fist. “Force Palm.” Cara hit the Pangaro with both palms straight into its stomach.
However the large figure didn’t even stumble back. “Low Sweep.”
“Extreme Speed.” Even as the Pangaro’s leg swept under Cara, she flipped, palming the ground before righting herself and delivering a series of blows to the panda's side. Thankfully Cara had a lot more experience with fighting than the others.
“Vital Throw!” The man shouted, it was apparent that he was getting frustrated. I didn’t even have to order Cara as she leapt back and away to make space. She had heard ‘throw’ and knew the large Pokemon would try and grab her.
However she tried to do an Aura Sphere as I called out, “Extreme Speed again! Keep distance!”
Unfortunately she was too focused on collecting aura and was grabbed. There was a moment of shock on her face as the two of them suddenly twisted and Cara was slammed into the ground. “Hammer Arm!”
Cara was still trying to get up as the Pangoro raised its arm and swung downward. “Counter.” The blow struck Cara hard before she suddenly blurred and delivered an uppercut that actually sent the large Pokemon staggering back.
She looked to be in rough shape, but the Pangoro wasn’t fairing that well either. “Work Up!” The man was confident that his Pokemon could take another hit, and then finish it with his next attack.
But I wasn’t going to let that oversized bear get another attack. “Reversal.” I actually saw the ground buckle beneath Cara’s feet as she lunged forward, delivering a palm strike straight to the chest of the Pangoro.
“Hammer Arm!” the man called out. But his Pokemon didn’t move. It staggered one step back, and then was unable to get its other foot under it and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. There was an obvious mark on its chest, softly glowing with violet energy.
Cara stood there, still in the pose that she struck, staring at the Pokemon on its back, waiting for it to get back up. I could see wisps of aura slowly rising from her paw. It took a moment before the man returned his Pokemon, grumbling as he speed walked away. “Rude bastard,” I said as I made my way to Cara.
She wasn’t moving, aside from the heaving of her chest. No, I realized now that I was closer, her legs and arm were shaking. Gently I put my arm under her and her body gave out. I grunted a bit as suddenly her entire weight was dropped on me. “I won…” she said softly.
“You did,” I said, smiling. Taking a good look at her it was no wonder reversal dropped that Pangoro. Reversal did more damage the less health a Pokemon had, so here, the more beat up a Pokemon was, the harder it would hit. And Cara looked like she could be taken out with a light slap. “Take a break in your pokeball, and I’ll go give you to Nurse Joy.”
She nodded before disappearing back into her ball. “That was awesome!” Rio exclaimed, running over to me. “Mama is so strong!”
I nodded. “She’s got some really good battle instincts, but we’ll have to work on that Aura Sphere.” It had been slow, and not terribly strong. She didn’t even get a chance to fire it off before she got grabbed. That was another thing that I was going to have to really plan for; moves could be interrupted.
“Why was that guy such a jerk?” Rio asked, looking towards where the man had gone.
“Honestly I have no idea.” I walked back over to Popplio and Veny, taking a look at how the bug was doing. “Do you want to go back in the pokeball, little bug?” I asked, crouching down in front of her.
She looked a little rough, but was still in high spirits. After a moment she made a cute little nodding motion. “Yeah… I’m tired.”
I reached out, rubbing her shell with a smile. “You did a great job.” I returned her to her pokeball before standing up again. It was starting to get dark, and a lot of the Trainers were leaving. We had spent a lot of the day showcasing moves, so it made sense that we didn’t get in many battles.
Scooping up Rio in one arm, and Popplio in the other, I decided to make my way back inside. “No battle?”
“Not today, Rio. Sorry. You all know a lot more moves than I thought you would so that took longer than I thought.” Popplio laid her head against me, closing her eyes. She was really quite a fan of being carried. It would be a shame when she evolved and couldn’t do it anymore.
Rio huffed a bit in response, but nodded. “Okay. Can we play more tomorrow, instead of battling?”
I blinked a bit and looked down at her. “I thought you wanted to battle more.”
“I do, but I also wanna play. And now that we all have a win, we can all play and get better.” Apparently Cara had convinced Rio that playing and training were the same thing. Which was good, as it was going to save me the time of doing it later.
“That’s fine. We can go to the training area tomorrow, and we can play some games.” Popplio smiled a bit at my comment, probably having felt a bit left out since she couldn’t battle. “Nurse Joy,” I greeted with a smile as I saw the pink haired woman behind the desk, having apparently just returned from the back.
“Ah, Jason. How did your battling go today?”
“Pretty good. Veny and Cara need some recovery, but they both won, so it was good.” I had to put Rio down on the counter in order to retrieve the pokeballs.
“Did Rio not get to battle?” she asked, giving the Riolu a quick look over.
“Nope! But my mama was super cool! She beat this huge Pokemon!” Rio explained excitedly. Nurse Joy nodded politely; I could tell she didn’t fully understand, but she got a bit of it.
“We spent most of the day checking on all their moves, so she didn’t get a chance. And Popplio didn’t battle at all because she needed a day of recovery.” It was honestly really surprising how fast Pokemon recovered, but it also made a lot of sense considering their tendency to battle.
“I see. And how do you feel?” She seemed to look me over for a moment.
I had to think about it as well, gently touching my arm, which now felt fine. “I actually feel pretty good? I got a bit of a headache this morning, but I don’t think it was related.”
She reached out to turn my head. “Hm… Well, it doesn’t hurt to double check. Come back with me and we’ll give you a quick look over.”
It was more of a quick checkup, but she came to the conclusion that I was indeed doing much better. She still made a lot of recommendations, that I should rest more, to still not use my arm, and that if I feel any nausea I should immediately tell her. After that she had taken Cara and Veny’s pokeballs and told me to go rest in my room.
Again I thought it would be a good idea not to argue and did as she suggested. I put Riolu and Popplio down on the bed before deciding on cleaning up before going to bed. “Alright, I’m going to take a shower.” I looked at the two of them.
Then I had a thought. I picked up Popplio and brought her with me. “Wha?” She made a bit of confused noise.
“I’ve got an idea. I want to see if I can help you blow some bubbles.” I set her down on the sink by the shower, before turning the shower on. After checking, I saw that the shampoo and soap had been restocked.
“Bubbles?” Popplio asked excitedly, actually jumping into the shower. I almost panicked before realizing that she was probably a bit dried out.
Nodding, I decided to clean up first before showing her. Riolu seemed curious as to what was going on as well. “Alright.” After I had finished, I grabbed some of the soap, lathering my hands. Creating a small gap in my fingers, I blew a bubble.
Popplio let out an absolutely jubilant noise as she watched. “Bubbles!”
I sat down on the floor of the shower, showing her what I was doing, and blowing a few more bubbles. “See, you create a small little film of stuff, and then blow air into it for the bubbles.” I knew what Popplio made bubbles with was probably similar to snot, though it sounded more like a special type of mucus that just happens to be from the nose. But it was probably snot.
She tried to blow a bubble on her own, and was immediately disheartened when she couldn’t. I took soap, and rubbed a bit of it on her nose. Her face scrunched up, but she tried again, blowing a little bubble that almost immediately popped. Her eyes widened. “Bubble! I blew a bubble!”
“You did!” I rubbed a bit more soap on her nose and she blew another bubble. We did this for a few minutes, her bubbles slowly getting stronger and lasting longer. After a while, I didn’t even have any soap on my hand, merely mimicking the action. Her progress almost reset at this, but the action had seemed to trigger some sort of process.
And now her bubbles were starting to get more cohesive. She still waited for me to rub her nose after every bubble, showing more and more excitement as time passed. Rio had come in as well, getting excited alongside Popplio. I don’t know if she really understood why she was excited, but that didn’t really seem to matter.
A sudden knock at the door interrupted our celebration. Quickly getting up, and wrapping a towel around me, I moved and answered the door. Wigglytuff didn’t even give me a moment as she pushed the door all the way open. “What are you all being so loud- why are you naked?”
“I was taking a shower. And showing Popplio how to blow bubbles.” She arched a brow at me. I took a few steps back and gestured. “Show her, Popplio.”
In her excitement, Popplio completely forgot about the soap trick and blew a large bubble. “Bubble!” She looked so proud, and even Rio struck a pose, mimicking her announcement of ‘Bubble’. But when it suddenly popped she had a realization. She stared at the air for a moment, and then looked back at the soap, and then at me, then back to the soap, and then back at me.
I smiled at her, nodding. “Yup. You did it on your own.” I moved over to the sink, turning it on before washing off the slimy mucus that was on my hand. It reminded me a bit of slime I had made when I was young, though it was more liquidy and far less sticky. Like snot.
“I can… I can blow bubbles,” she said, as if just realizing it. She must have seen her mother make bubbles and be so upset because she didn’t know how to. I could only imagine how frustrating it must have been to know that you could do that, but didn’t know how.
“Yes. Yes you can.”
Wigglytuff seemed a bit confused, but also understood that it was very important. “Good job.” She held out the small tray with two pokeballs.
I chuckled a bit as I took them, releasing Cara and Veny. “I can blow bubbles now!” Popplio proudly announced, and proceeded to blow another bubble.
Cara nodded with a polite smile, but Veny rushed over. “Whoa! You can make bubbles!”
Cara looked at me, a bit confused. So I decided to explain to her and Wigglytuff, “Popplio and their line are known for a few things. One of which is bubbles. A Popplio is capable of performing acrobatics using their bubbles as well as using them for offense and defense.”
“Oh, that explains her excitement,” Wigglytuff said as she tucked the tray under her arm.
“She’s done very good then,” Cara said in agreement, nodding.
“I wasn’t going to let her battle until she was able to blow bubbles,” I continued. While Popplio could now do it, her bubbles weren’t exactly strong. But that could be fixed through training. I was honestly surprised it worked, but if I could teach a Pokemon a move using fairly basic principles then I could teach them anything.
“Ah, that’s very good then,” Cara said, nodding some more.
“Thank you, Wigglytuff,” I said as I saw the pink blob attempting to leave the room.
“Yes, yes. Of course,” she responded. “Now put your clothes on before you catch a cold,” she added before closing the door.
“Ah. Right.” I cleared my throat a bit, though all the Pokemon seemed quite unbothered by my state of undress. Then again, Pokemon didn’t usually wear clothes. But the pink one is correct; it would be bad if I got sick, so I dried off and got dressed. I didn’t have many clothes, though all the sets I have now were given to me. They weren’t exactly nice or comfortable, but they were free.
Money was going to be a thing to worry about. I was going to need income. Battling for money was a thing, and what the battle app was for on the phone. But how much that would be I had no idea. Maybe I could use my knowledge in some way to my advantage? There was a story I read about having a Milotic farm for prism scales, but I didn’t have the land to do that. Any sort of farm would be out of the question in the short term. Problems to think on later.
Laying in the bed I was almost immediately dog piled. Everyone seemed to have their own spots now, Cara on my left, Rio squeezed between her and Popplio, and Veny on the right. “You’re all going to be so upset when you get bigger and can’t lay on me,” I said with a chuckle.
“We will adjust,” Cara said, and I could practically hear the smile on her face.
~
The next day after breakfast, we all made our way to the training ground again. Said training grounds were completely deserted. Moving to the same area that we had used the previous day, I released everyone. The three little ones all seemed rather excited, though Cara seemed a bit bothered they would not be battling again today. Almost immediately, Popplio began to excitedly blow bubbles, while Rio and Veny started to…well, I could only describe it as roughhousing.
“Cara.” I turned my attention to the blue jackal, who returned my gaze with a curious expression. “Let me see your Aura Sphere again.”
Immediately she looked hesitant. I could tell she was aware that it wasn’t at the level it should be. It looked like she wanted to protest, but eventually sighed and began to gather the energy. It was slow and methodical. No, more like reluctant. She was…scared of it.
She let it off, allowing it to collide with an object used for target practice. It did significant damage, but nowhere near at the level it should. “Again,” I said, watching her form another sphere of aura. Again there was that fear until she let it go.
She refused to look at me. There was a look of frustration on her face. I moved closer to her, kneeling down to be more at her level, and then offered my hand. Again she was hesitant, but eventually she touched my hand.
Gently grasping her hand, I slowly turned it so that her palm was up. “Again,” I said softly, and her face turned to one of confusion. “But this time…don’t let it go.” After a moment, she did so, slowly gathering up a small orb of aura. I could feel some sort of energy resonating off of it, not quite heat, but I knew that if I touched it, it might burn me. “Hold it,” I said, keeping my voice low and soft.
It wavered as the moments passed, though the fluctuations were barely noticeable. But it wasn’t because it was difficult. Aura was second nature to Lucarios. It was part of their being. It was what truly made them unique in the Pokemon world. Yet she looked at it with fear, like it would bite her.
Probably because it had. “He hurt you with your own aura,” I spoke barely above a whisper, but my voice caused her focus to break, and the aura sphere was snuffed out. Her hand clenched, but she didn’t respond. I hadn’t put much thought into it, but there was probably a fight between the two of them when he left.
After a minute she finally spoke, “That Trainer…made us fight…” I was quiet, letting her talk. “My mate…wanted to go… I wanted him to stay… And the Trainer… That man… said that if I won, he wouldn’t take him… But if he won…then they would leave together… He didn’t hesitate.”
She was shaking slightly, her hand clenching tighter. That was honestly even worse than I had thought. It was no wonder that she was so upset about it all. It was no wonder her aura was a mess. I gently pulled her more towards me, slowly putting my arms around her, and she leaned heavily into me.
She didn’t cry. She was far too proud to cry over something like this. But it absolutely crushed her that that other Lucario had not just left her, but beaten her to make sure he could. “I knew he was stronger than me. I knew I would lose. But he didn’t hesitate to hurt me.”
I could feel her taking deep breaths, doing her best to stay strong. There was this intense feeling that she didn’t want to let it affect her. I could feel that from the aura that she was putting out. It was a rather strange and unfamiliar feeling; as if I could taste her emotion in the air.
“Rio was still an egg,” she added, which made things worse, but also better. I looked over at the little dog, who was being ganged up on by Veny and Popplio. She was struggling to figure out how to cope with the new found bubble powers. Popplio’s bubbles were visibly getting stronger with every few attempts. “I don’t even want to think about what would have happened to us if that Ranger hadn’t found us.”
I was starting to get a better idea of the timeline of events. “He heard the battle and came to investigate?”
She nodded, rubbing her face against my shoulder. “I just…couldn’t do anything… I was weak. I’m… I’m still so weak…”
“You’re a lot stronger than you think. And you can get so much stronger.” She pulled away slightly to look at me. “And I can help you get stronger.” I pulled away from her, sitting down. “But first, you need to focus. I know it’s hard. And it’s going to take time. But I’m going to be here to help you, as long as you let me.”
Her gaze slowly went down to her hands, clenching and unclenching them slowly. “You’ll really help?”
I nodded. “As much as I can.”
It took a few moments before she smiled a bit and asked, “And you’re not just… just after my beans, right?”
I blinked and stared at her for a moment before a smile crept onto my face. “Well. Maybe. The lure of paw beans has been the downfall of many.”
She let out a snort-bark, shaking her head. “They’re my beans. So you’ll just have to suffer without them.”
“Perhaps,” I said with a bit of a smirk. “Who knows what the future holds?” We both laughed a bit, the tension slowly easing, but I could still feel it there. “Now. Let’s see that aura sphere again.”
She held up her hands between the two of us, and I watched as the energy gathered. While I could still see the hesitation from the way the basketball sized sphere wavered, she looked less afraid of it and more focused. We both watched it for a time as she tried to keep her hold on the energy. Eventually she looked from it to me. “What…what am I supposed to do with it?” she asked softly.
A soft chuckle escaped me. “What do you mean what? Cara, what is aura?”
She frowned slightly. “It is… It’s aura?”
“It’s energy. It’s a raw form of energy that exists everywhere and comes from everything that you can use.” I put my hands on either side of the sphere, which made her obviously nervous and the orb fluctuated. “You can do far more with it than you realize. You can make it hot. Cold. Solid, or like water.”
Her brow furrowed as her attention turned back to the sphere, trying to keep it under control. “It fights me,” she revealed after a moment.
“Don’t force it. Guide it.” For a moment its shape became more solid, before it began to waver again. “It’s raw power, but it is not wild. It’s you.” Slowly I put my hands onto the sphere, and she flinched. It was hot, to the point that it hurt a little, but not to the point that it burned my hands. “It will follow your will. You don’t want to hurt me, so it won't hurt me.”
Minute after minute the temperature of the aura sphere lowered, becoming warm to the touch. The shape of it also became more cohesive. It didn’t waver as much, now looking far more in form to what I remember from the anime. She looked far more relaxed now, gaining some shreds of confidence.
Slowly her eyes closed, focusing more on the sphere of aura. There were a lot of things I wanted to test with aura, just to see what extremes it could be pushed to, but Cara needed to regain her confidence. I slowly moved my hands away from the sphere, rubbing at my palms to make sure she hadn’t actually burned me. They stung a bit, which I had honestly expected since I’m not a Lucario.
Aura was honestly fascinating, and had numerous applications. Cara had said my aura was soothing, but I had no idea why. Humans could learn to use aura from what I knew, and it might be worth trying to learn how. Hell, if Ash could learn it, then I should be able to, right? Psionics was also something that existed in the Pokemon world. That might also be a good thing to look into.
Refocusing my attention on Cara, I saw that she was still focusing hard on her aura sphere. I had given her a lot to think about. Suddenly there was a soft little jingle and I saw the sphere waver before she regained her focus. It took me a moment to figure out what the noise was until I remembered my phone.
I had put the phone in an outside pocket of my bag so that I could hear it ringing. Pulling it out as I got up, I walked away to not disturb Cara more. The little display was of Professor Sycamore. I answered it and nearly put it up to my ear before remembering that that’s not how phones work here. “Morning Professor.”
Professor Sycamore looked a bit haggard, like he hadn’t slept. He appeared to be sitting on the deck of some building, holding his phone out. I assumed the building behind him was his laboratory. “Ah, good morning. I heard from Professor Oak earlier. What did you say to him that made him so adamant you were telling the truth.” He had quite a confused looking expression.
I laughed. “If he didn’t tell you, there’s no way that I’m going to.”
He let out a sigh that sounded a bit like a huff. “Well, I just wanted to check in since the League starts tomorrow.”
“Ah, yeah. I’m looking forward to it.” I leaned against the fence of the training ground, watching my four Pokemon as well as Professor Sycamore.
He nodded a bit. “Right… I also spoke with Professor Juniper last night. Professor Oak had apparently called her to explain that he believed you.” Apparently these Professors didn’t have anything to do but make phone calls to each other. “Not that it was really necessary as she has actually documented cases of otherworld travel, though they are extremely rare. They do happen.”
That caused me to blink, staring at the phone for a moment. “I’m not the only one?”
“Only one on record in the last three hundred years. But no, you are not the only one, nor the first. Which adds a lot more credit to your story.”
I nodded a bit. That at least made me feel better, but it also raised a whole number of new questions. The biggest question being: Why? Though I did have another question that I might get the answer to, “How many cases?”
Professor Sycamore shook his head. “I didn’t get many details from Juniper, so you’ll have to ask her. I’ll send you her contact details.”
“Alright.” It took a moment before I saw the message notification. “Was there anything else?”
He scoffed. “That eager? Well, the last thing I wanted to talk about is I have a potential ride for you to the League, that way you don’t have to cram into public transport. And a hotel room has been set for you for the duration, and I managed to get you an advance on your Trainer payout, so that should be in your account.”
“Oh, that would actually be really nice. Thank you, Professor,” I said with a smile. “Though I do have to ask why you’re going to such lengths?”
“Mhm. Think of it as a future investment. And… Well, you can also think of it as me trying to make up for things… I really slacked off in certain places, and I’ve got to start correcting that.”
“Yeah, Cara was going to deck you.”
He laughed. “Yeah I could tell. Honestly, probably a little deserved. But I’m glad she didn’t.”
I nodded. “Yeah. That probably would have been bad.”
“Right. Well, I’m going to get back to work now. Juniper should still be up, so you can give her a call.”
Again I nodded. “Thanks, Professor.”
“Alright, your ride will be there at about eight in the morning. Have fun watching the League. Oh, and one more thing,” he said and disconnected the call.
I blinked, staring at the screen for a moment before shaking my head. I took a few minutes to watch everyone. Cara no longer had an aura sphere, but she did have a visible glow around her. Popplio had managed to create bubbles that they could use as a ball, and were playing ‘don’t let the bubble touch the ground’ with several bubbles. Mostly Popplio just kept adding bubbles while Rio and Veny ran around trying to keep them up. That was probably good training.
It was still kind of surreal to watch Pokemon just doing their thing. It had only been a few days since I arrived, and would probably take a long time before I was accustomed to seeing them. All I could think is that it was wonderful.
Turning my attention back to my phone, I decided to talk to Professor Juniper. It actually took a few rings before the call was answered. What I got was a side profile of the light brown haired Professor, who was sitting at a desk covered in papers and obviously typing on something and looking at some other screen. “This is Professor Juniper,” she sounded a bit tired.
“Hello Professor. My name is Jason, who I believe you’ve been hearing about?”
She hit a few more keys before what I said seemed to sink in and she froze. Slowly her attention turned to look at the screen, giving me an almost crazed look. She suddenly leapt towards the screen, which actually caused me to flinch. “Oh my. Jason? You’re Jason? From the- the one Augustine and Sam talked about?”
“Yes, the one from the other world,” I said with a bit of a nervous chuckle.
“Oh my…” She started to shuffle through papers. “What was your other world like? Are there really no Pokemon?”
“Yes, there’s no Pokemon,” I replied, nodding. “It’s…really different from here, honestly. There’s a lot more people, bigger cities, the technology is…different.”
“Fascinating. Sam mentioned you wanted to travel, is Unova on that list?”
I nodded. “Yes, I do plan to go there. I want to see this world, and I’m hoping to put myself in the position to do so.”
She nodded a bit. “When you do visit, I want an interview. I want to know all about your other world.”
I nodded again with a smile. “Yeah, that sounds like it could be fun.”
There was a smile on her face as well. “Truly that would be amazing. It’s been over three hundred years since the last documented case.”
“Ah, I was wondering how many cases has there been?”
“As far as I know, there were twelve. You would be the thirteenth.”
“That many?” I was a bit surprised at the amount. It was both a low number, but more than I thought.
“Yes. They used to happen every few decades, but there is a large gap. Most of them claim that it was Arceus, or at least described seeing a Pokemon similar to them.”
“So he…what, just does that?”
She shrugged. “Historically, yes?”
There was a moment of silence as we both sort of just absorbed that realization. “I knew he could just… will people through time and space, but to actually pull people from other dimensions?” I muttered, my brow furrowed.
“Will people through time and space?” she asked curiously, catching at least part of what I said.
“One of the uh… games. Arceus sends you back in time to Hisui,” I explained, and went into a brief overview of what roughly happens in that particular game.
She seemed fascinated, writing everything I said down. “I’ll have to double check to make sure that these records matchup…but if they do, this could be valuable information. You’re like a trove of knowledge.”
I chuckled nervously, that had sounded like a compliment, but not quite? “Thank you?” A rather loud pop noise drew my attention from the screen. Popplio had managed to make a bubble that was quite loud. Much to Cara’s annoyance, as her focus was broken. She was glaring at the little trio, who were unaware and laughing at the noise.
“Well, we’ll have to have more conversations in the future,” the Professor said, seeing that my focus was elsewhere and wanting to get back to her own work.
“Right.” I looked back at the screen. “I do plan to visit Unova eventually, though I don’t have an exact schedule or route.”
She nodded. “Well, let me know when you plan on heading my way.”
“Of course.”
“I’m going to try and finish my work,” she said as she moved a bit away from the terminal, her focus turning back to the monitor.
“Goodnight, Professor,” I said, which only got a vague wave of her hand. I ended the call, and put my phone away. Her interest had so quickly faded that it was actually kind of funny.
Cara had gone back to her meditation, though I didn’t know what she was doing. I could see the wisps of aura around her, but that just showed how strong it was. Walking back over towards her, I could see the moment that my aura seemed to touch her, as she suddenly relaxed. Stopping when that happened, I estimated the distance at just over ten feet, maybe four meters?
That was an interesting realization. Was this the range of my…what would it be? Aura pressure? The reach of my life energy? Maybe I could find an Aura Guardian? Aura was such a mysterious power to me, even though there were quite a lot of bits of information. Was it like ki? That would have some interesting implications. Suddenly a thought entered my head.
If aura and ki did work similarly, and people could use it, then maybe… I turned towards empty space, taking a deep breath. I set my feet into a stance that I had practiced as a child and brought my hands forward, slowly I went through the motions while saying softly, “Kaa-mee-” Slowly bringing my hands back, I tried to imagine energy gathering, “Haaa-meee-” I thrust my hands forward, “Ha!”
Nothing happened. I laughed at myself, obviously nothing would happen. Even if I could use aura, there was no way I’d be able to fire off energy beams. As cool as that would be. “What was that?” Cara suddenly asked, making me jolt upright.
“Ah- uh- well.” I cleared my throat, trying to think of a proper reason for my silly action. “It’s a move that I saw someone really strong do.”
She tilted her head, but didn’t ask anymore questions as she returned to her meditation. Honestly I was glad that she didn’t. I also wasn’t sure how long she was watching.
Moving a bit closer to her, I sat down, watching the trio play. It really occurred to me just how rough they played. They weren’t afraid of tackling, using moves, punching, kicking, or throwing each other. This sort of play was clearly instinctual, to help them learn to fight, to survive. Battling was ingrained within them.
I sat there watching them for quite a while, losing myself in the act and thinking about how to train them. Popplio would be the most difficult. She had the hardest start of the trio and had no battle experience. Rio was strong for her size, which would catch people off guard. How that would translate when she evolved into a Lucario I had no idea. Veny was fast, and would only get faster as she evolved. Even though she knew Extreme Speed, it was nowhere near as fast as Cara, who was faster without even using Extreme Speed. Speaking of Cara…
“Cara,” I said softly, glancing at the meditating Pokemon. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked towards me. “You want to beat him, right?” She gave me a rather firm nod, though she looked puzzled as to where I was going with this. “Then you’re going to have to make your aura better than his.”
“I know,” she replied softly, looking down at her lap.
If my thoughts were right, and aura was like ki, then I might actually be able to apply Dragonball logic to it. Dragonball had gone into more detail about how ki worked, than Pokemon did about aura. I had already leaned a bit in that direction with my earlier talk of aura and that seemed to work, but now I was going to just straight up treat it like ki. “Your aura is affected by your emotions.”
She clenched her fists in response, nodding.
“You can think of aura as something made up of three things.” I drew three little circles in the dirt between us. “Vigor,” I tapped in the first circle. “Courage,” I tapped in the second. “And right-mindedness,” I tapped the third circle.
Her head tilted to the side. It was apparent that she had never heard it described this way.
Of course I couldn’t know if anyone would have ever been this much of a nerd. “Starting with vigor. You can think of it as what aura is. It’s how much aura you can use, and perceive. If you don’t have enough vigor, you won’t be able to properly use aura.”
“Vigor…” she mumbled, looking at the first circle.
“Courage.” I pointed to the second circle. “This goes with vigor, but it’s how much emotion you put into aura. Aura is heavily influenced by emotions, and can be strengthened with them. And if you are scared of the aura, you won’t be able to use it properly.”
That seemed to really get to her, her ears folding back. “Courage…”
I nodded and then touched the third circle. “Finally, there is right-mindedness. You have to be in the right mind to use aura. It comes back to courage, but it’s more than just using emotions to empower yourself. Right-mindedness is about not letting your emotions control or overwhelm you.”
“So I have to…use my emotions, but control them?” she asked, her head tilting to the other side.
“Sort of. It’s about balance. If you lean too much into one of the three, you can hurt yourself or others. If you let your anger overwhelm you, you’ll hurt things indiscriminately.” Her expression looked thoughtful, and I saw her glance at me. “If you let your fear overwhelm you, you can weaken yourself. But you might do the opposite and do something in your fear that you will regret.”
Her brow furrowed. “Something that I will regret?”
I nodded. Of course, everything I had said was speculation, but from what I knew it should work? There was no reason that it shouldn’t work, but time would tell. I just hoped that it didn’t do any damage. But, it shouldn’t, right?
She nodded slowly. “I…think I understand. It does make sense.”
“The most important thing for you is to decide your path.” She looked up at me. “Is revenge your only purpose? Your mate chose his pride and desire for strength. Do you just want to beat him? What about after? You’re going to have to choose something better to drive you. Your revenge is a single step in your life, not the final one.” I sat up a bit straighter, putting my hands in my lap as I watched her.
It was clear that that thought hadn’t occurred to her. She had wanted revenge, but didn’t think it possible and was solely focused on surviving and raising Rio. But now? Now she had a chance. “I… I don’t know.”
I reached over and gently pat her shoulder. “You don’t have to decide now, you can think on it.”
Her face was all scrunched up as she was in deep thought. This was a rather heavy decision and she couldn’t just recklessly decide. But I couldn’t help myself. I reached up and started to rub and scratch her jaw. She closed her eyes and smiled a bit as I did so, raising her head up a bit. I was honestly a bit surprised that she just let me pet her without complaints. I even saw her tail wagging.
And then it was like she suddenly realized what I was doing and was suddenly standing several feet away from me, staring at me with wide eyes. I laughed. She narrowed her eyes at me, rubbing at the area I had been scratching with her paw. “I guess it’s a bit presumptuous of me to pet you?”
“You are very forward when it comes to touching me,” was her response.
I shrugged and looked back over at the trio. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it made you uncomfortable, considering that you sleep on top of me,” I said with a bit of a smirk.
She huffed, sitting down again now that there was distance between us. We had such an interesting sort of relationship. It was obvious that more public forms of affection were too embarrassing for her, considering her previous reactions, but she didn’t really seem to dislike it. I just couldn’t help seeing her as a big dog sometimes, and I wanted to pet her.
My gaze wandered up to the sky, looking at the Pokemon flying overhead. I could see Fletchlings and Pidgeys. There were really Pokemon just everywhere. On the other side of the fence I could see a little Oddish half buried and dozing in the sun. A few Caterpie and Burmy in the trees. A Plusle and Minun were running through the brush.
Suddenly my gaze locked with a pair of eyes that were hiding in the dark of some bushes. It took me a moment to recognize the shape at this distance, but eventually I realized it was an Espurr who was staring at me. Those were cute cat Pokemon. Maybe I should get a cute Pokemon that I could shower with affection? That was kind of why I wanted a Fennekin, just getting a cute little fox. Maybe an Eevee? Those were adorable.
This really was the world of Pokemon. Slowly I stood up, and walked over to the fence. I wanted to get a better look at the Pokemon out there. Swinging a leg over I sat on one of the large fence posts, and I took a better look around. The Oddish wasn’t too far away now, and I could see that there were also Metapod in the trees. Some of the plants that I had seen were actually Budew, and I could even see a blue Flabebe. Considering it was only four inches tall, it was no wonder I couldn’t see it.
There was a group of three Skitty following behind a Delcatty. A Ralts carrying something and looking to be in quite a hurry to wherever it was going. They all had their little lives, going about doing things. It was fascinating to just watch them. I could still see the Espurr, which I was a bit curious about since they weren’t in this area in the game, but this was real life and they wouldn’t be restricted to silly things like routes.
A Ledyba buzzed over, landing on the fence a bit aways from me, which was quickly joined by four others. They seemed interested in the group of Pokemon that were playing in the training ground. I was trying to not move too much so as to not startle them. They seemed to be communicating with each other through scents, though I couldn’t tell what they were saying.
It didn’t take long before one of them noticed me, suddenly freezing in place as it did so. I purposefully didn’t react to it. Curiously it made its way over to me. Only as it did so did I actually turn a bit to get a better look at it. It looked like it must be a younger one, considering its size compared to the others. It stopped right beside me.
Slowly I reached out and rubbed its shell. “Hi there,” I said softly, smiling.
It had a rather happy looking expression, apparently pleased at the feeling, and made a happy little noise that wasn’t actually words. The rest of the group turned to look at me, obviously reacting to the sudden happy scent from their smallest member. I was worried for a moment that they might react aggressively, but instead they just seemed curious.
They all slowly walked over to me, and onto me. I laughed a bit, petting and rubbing their shells as they explored. “Well, you’re all a lot more friendly than I thought you’d be.” I again remembered what Cara had said about my aura being soothing, and wondered if that was what it was. But then again, living so close to the city they must be very used to people.
To my sudden realization, I could actually understand their way of speaking now that they were this close, if only slightly. It was more that I could tell what the scents meant. Such as them being curious about me, wondering why I was here, that I was new but not a Trainer.
That was interesting, that they could tell I wasn’t a Trainer. “How do you know I’m not a Trainer?”
There seemed to be a general conversation until they came to the conclusion that I didn’t smell like one. Then one actually spoke up to try and explain, “Trainers have a certain smell. You smell more like Pokemon. Like them,” it pointed at the rest of the group.
I looked over as well. It was not surprising that I would smell like them, since we slept in a pile. I could also see how Cara was watching the situation carefully, making sure that I wasn’t in any danger. “Those are my Pokemon,” I explained.
They all seemed to freeze. “You’re a Trainer?”
I shook my head. “No. They’re-” I paused a moment to think of how to explain it. “They’re my friends, but in order to go around the city with them they have to be my Pokemon and have pokeballs.”
They communicated for a moment, about how that made sense. I was gently rubbing two of the Ledyba who were very pleased from the petting. They felt very smooth. I honestly wished I had some little treats to give them. But those were expensive. Maybe I could go berry hunting? When I go to the Nurse Ranch I should keep my eye out for berries.
There was a small little shout that caused my attention to shift. There was a Combee bothering the Flabebe. The Flabebe was angry at the Combee, who had apparently thought the Flabebe was just a regular flower, and had damaged it. The Combee gave a rather flat apology before simply floating off.
The little flower Pokemon was still yelling at it, but it quickly left the range that it could hear her. I shifted to the other side of the fence to get down, my movement causing the Ledyba to scatter in surprise. I moved over to the little flower and knelt down; she looked a bit rough. “Are you alright?” I asked softly.
She screamed, immediately trying to get away, but with the state of her flower she was unable to float away. Though she really did try, only to fall over. I watched as she struggled for a moment before gently reaching down and carefully putting her back upright. Once she got past a certain point, she seemed to auto balance again.
The little thing stared at me as I examined her. Her flower seemed a bit battered, but it still had all of its petals. From what I knew, she should be fine after a bit. “Alright, you don’t look too bad,” I muttered before standing up and making my way back to the fence.
Cara was there, watching what I was doing. She gave me a puzzled look. “What are you doing?”
“Just making sure she wasn’t too roughed up,” I said as I gestured back at the Flabebe.
“Is she alright?” she asked.
I gave a bit of a shrug before hopping back over the fence. “She seems to be.” In the distance I could see the trio laying on a grassy spot, obviously worn out. They had been playing for hours and hours. “I guess it’s time to call it a day.” It was some time after noon.
Cara nodded. “Yes. It’s actually quite comfortable in the pokeball, so resting there is… nice.” She was looking at her pokeball with a mixed emotion.
“I’m sure that’s by design.” I glanced back over the fence, seeing the Flabebe slowly, and with some obvious difficulty, float off. And the Espurr. Still staring at me. Was that actually an Espurr? They looked a bit off. Maybe a Mimikyu with an Espurr costume? Maybe a Ditto that hadn’t quite got the hang of transforming?
The Lucario nodded and made a noise of confirmation before returning to her pokeball as I made my way over to the other three laying in the grass. Popplio was the first to speak up, “My bubbles are so strong now.”
“Oh? You’ll have to show me,” I said as I stood over her.
In response she rolled over onto her stomach before blowing out a rather sizable bubble. She then proceeded to jump onto it and pose. “Tada!”
I smiled as I crouched down a bit. “Wow, that is some amazing improvement.” I reached out, putting a hand into the bubble. It felt a bit rubbery, like a balloon, and had some give to it but didn’t pop. “Amazing.” She made quite a few happy little noises before using the bubble as a sort of springboard and colliding into me, taking me off my feet. I made a little- “Oof-” sound, but managed to catch her.
“I’m gonna get so strong!” she announced.
“Team Speed Shell has bubbles!” Rio announced, raising her paw into the air.
I laughed. “Oh?” I looked down at Popplio in my arms. “Are you part of Speed Shell now?”
She had the biggest smile on her face. “Yup! We’re still figuring out my role…”
“Hm…” I moved over to sit beside Veny and Rio. Veny was passed out. “You could be the performer? Since your evolution line is known for that sort of stuff.”
Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she looked over to Rio, who had managed to sit up. She looked thoughtful, but then nodded. “Yeah. The performer of Team Speed Shell.”
Popplio beamed. “Yeah!”
I chuckled a bit, nodding. “Alright. We’re going back to the Pokecenter, so everyone can return to their pokeballs.”
Rio nodded. “Yeah… I’m really tired. Today was fun.”
I smiled as I returned Veny and Rio before looking at Popplio. “Did you have fun?”
She had quite a grin on her face as she nodded. “Yeah. I… I really did. I had lots of fun.”
“Good.” I rubbed her head a bit, still smiling. “We’ll all have lots of fun together. We’ll see the world and visit all the places that all of us ever want to see.”
Suddenly she had a thoughtful expression. “Even Alola?”
I blinked. “Of course. Where did you hear that?”
“They said that’s where my line is from. I heard them talking about it a lot…”
“Yeah,” I said softly, still rubbing her head. “We can go to Alola. I want to see the islands, and maybe try and get a Z-Ring.” I saw the confusion, so I continued to explain before she even asked, “It’s something that lets you channel power, with a crystal and Pokemon to unleash some of the most powerful moves in the world.”
Her eyes lit up, practically sparkling in excitement. “Wow. So like, a super move?”
“Yup. And your final evolution has one. It’s really strong.” I wondered how Z-Moves worked in real life. Would I have to dance? Probably.
“Wow… I want to do that.” Her eyes got a far off look, probably imagining what sort of powerful moves she could do.
“And you will. But right now, it’s time to rest. The League starts tomorrow, and we have to be well rested so we can watch the whole thing.” She nodded and I returned her. Standing up, I dusted myself off, taking a deep breath before heading back.
~
It had taken a bit of effort to get them to all go to sleep, even Cara. It was exciting. They were going to see so many battles. But eventually we had all turned in. And then there was a second struggle to get them all to calm down and go back into their pokeballs. I had to explain that we were getting a ride, and I would release them once we were there so they could watch.
Much to my surprise, though honestly I shouldn’t have been, it was Professor Sycamore who was there in the morning. “So you’re our ride?” I asked after spotting him in the Pokecenter’s lobby.
“Well, just because I gave you tickets doesn’t mean I don’t have my own.” This man liked surprises and secrets. “Now come on, we don’t want to miss the opening ceremony. It’ll be quite something,” he said with a chuckle.
Professor Sycamore actually had a fairly nice car, at least as far as I could tell. It reminded me of a jeep, but not open. He was also a horrible driver. “Do you even have a license?” I asked when we finally got into the city and he was forced to slow down and drive carefully.The city was quite large and bustling, and the arena was a huge building, but it was nothing compared to the large castle behind it. That castle was where the elite four and champion got to live, apparently.
“Of course I do. I just don’t drive much,” he admitted with a laugh.
We had to drive slowly through the city, traffic was pretty bad. I was watching out the window, seeing just how packed the place was with hundreds upon thousands of people. The Pokemon world had lots of sports, but pokebattles were the most popular and had been for a very long time. “How many people are here?”
“The arena can hold about fifty thousand, and there’s a few hundred other places in the city to watch via large televisions.”
That was… quite a lot. Not as large as some of the sports stadiums back in my old life, but definitely up there. Considering that the cities were smaller, and the overall population lower, that made sense. But that also meant that most of Kalos was here. “Interesting…”
“Pretty big, huh? One of the largest in the world.”
I looked over at him, arching an eyebrow. “The largest sports venue in my world could hold over two hundred and fifty thousand people.” I could literally watch as he deflated as I spoke.
“That many?” he said rather wistfully. “That could probably fit most of the whole city.”
“There’s… a lot less people here,” I said as I turned my attention back out the window. I had seen worse crowds than this. But that was interesting, learning that League City probably had less than two hundred and fifty thousand people. Then again, with how many Pokemon there were, and the sheer amount of wilderness, it wasn’t surprising.
As we got even closer to the arena we suddenly turned into a parking structure underground. We drove a bit in the large parking tunnels before he pulled into a spot marked ‘Professor Sycamore’. “Here we are.”
“You have your own parking spot?” I commented as I got out, taking a look around. I could see Pokemon here and there. Some Rattata, which wasn’t a Kalos native as far as I was aware, but rats are everywhere I guess. A Scatterbug that looked like it was on a mission to somewhere. A little group of Noibat tucked in a dark corner. Two Shuppet bobbing along.
“Of course I do. One of the many perks of being a Professor. Now come on, we have to get going.” He made a gesture for me to follow.
As I did so I continued to watch for Pokemon, spotting a trio of Trubbish gathering trash from near a dumpster. They eyed me suspiciously, as if I would steal their trash. We didn’t go very far, arriving at a nearby elevator and waiting for it.
The elevator opened to the sight of a rather surprised Delibird wearing a scarf. “Ah, pardon me,” it said as it gave us a nod and waddled off quickly.
I watched it go as we boarded the elevator. The Professor was on his phone, responding to messages from the looks of it. “There are really just Pokemon everywhere, huh?”
“Hm? Ah, yeah. It would be more difficult to get them out, so we all do our best to get along and live together. At least, we do that here in Kalos.” He frowned a bit. “Some places don’t like having them… in the way, as they put it.”
“I can’t imagine why. Pokemon are great. Even those Trubbish serve a purpose.”
“Trubbish?” He frowned a bit more. “You spotted some?”
I gave him a bit of a look. “They’re hard to miss? Little green garbage bag. They were by that dumpster.”
“Ah, I didn’t spot them in the dark.”
The underground area had had plenty of light. “Maybe you just need some glasses.”
He scoffed. “I have great eyesight. I’m just not looking for Pokemon in all the nooks and crannies.”
“And you call yourself a Professor,” I snarked.
Before he had a chance to reply, the door opened and we stepped out. We were in a rather large opulent hallway, and there were hardly any people here. I was a bit puzzled. “Come on, this way.”
He talks like I wasn’t going to follow him and just wander off. Eventually we came to a door with a rather tough looking man in a suit standing outside of. I had seen a few of these same types throughout the hall. “Ah, Professor, good. You’re here. And this is the guest you spoke of?”
Professor Sycamore nodded. “Yes, this is Jason. He and his Pokemon will be watching the tournament with me.”
The man nodded before opening the door. It occurred to me when they were talking, and was confirmed when the door opened, that we were in one of those private booths. “Ah, Professor. Good to see you.” There were other people in the room, so not that private of a booth. “Who is this?”
“Jason, the one I talked about,” the Professor said with a smile, gesturing at me.
The older man dressed in green reached out and I took his hand, shaking it without really thinking about it. “Good, good. Glad to meet you. Names Ramos.”
“The Coumarine Gym Leader?” I asked, a bit surprised, but I took a better look at him. He didn’t have his large shears on him, but he still had those huge chin beard whisker things.
“Ah, you know of me?” He stroked one of those beard whiskers. “Augustine did say you were knowledgeable.”
I nodded a bit, glancing around to see if any of the other gym leaders were present, but I didn’t recognize anyone here. “I try,” I said after a moment. The man then excused himself before heading off to talk with some of the other people in the room.
The room was quite nice; several large chairs, couches, and tables. There was a bar taking up an entire corner of the room where three people were seated, talking. The far wall was a huge window with six large screens hanging from the ceiling. Each screen was showing battlefields of different terrains. Each one was labeled. Water: a large arena filled with water and large chunks of ice. Fire: rocky terrain with fire spouts and flowing lava. Earth: Similar to the fire field, but without the fire. Grass: an open field filled with grass. Forest: filled with trees and brush. Normal: just a flat area, looking to be covered in some sort of clay.
“The Prelims will be the first two weeks,” the Professor explained, seeing where I was looking. “A Trainer must win one battle on every field to move onto the actual Tournament. When you get here after your journey, you get assigned a random field and time.”
“So you’ll never know who or where you’re going to fight. That’s interesting,” I mused, moving up to the window.
He followed. “Yeah, we try to make it fair, but there’s a rather rough discrepancy in most battles in the Prelims.” He had a bit of a frown on his face. “They tried to balance it early on, but gave up because there was too much work.” He sighed, shaking his head.
“Well, with a few hundred Trainers, I can imagine that it would be hard to sort them all.” The view was impressive, and the arena looked packed, with thousands and thousands of people moving around. We weren’t at the very top, but nor were we at the bottom. I could see every field without difficulty, but making out faces and details would be difficult.
“There won’t be any battles today, just showcases and highlights from last year's Tournament and Elite Four battles.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small keycard. “This is for your hotel room. It’s a few blocks away, called Fletch Roost.”
“Thanks.” I smiled a bit as I took the keycard.
“This is booth twenty one, just show someone your ticket and they’ll be able to let you in.”
“Are you not staying?” I asked, looking over at him
He shook his head. “Nah, I won’t watch till the actual League starts. The Prelims can be interesting, but anyone who’s interesting will be in the League.” He gave me a pat on the shoulder. “Your Pokemon are allowed out in this room, but not outside.”
I nodded. “Alright.” He gave a wave as he left. I let everyone out after that, and settled into one of the chairs. No one seemed to even have a reaction as I released them, though I did see Ramos looking over.
“Whoa!” Rio exclaimed as she moved to the window, looking down. Veny and Popplio joined her.
Even Cara was there at the window. “So this is…” she mumbled.
“There’s so many people,” Popplio said, looking down at the crowd.
It wasn’t long before the opening ceremony started. As Diantha came and the other elite four members came out I was a bit surprised to see that they were all the people I recognized. Since this was before the anime, I had wondered if they would be the same or if there would be their predecessors.
Diantha gave an extremely short speech, welcoming everyone and declaring that the Kalos League had officially begun. And that was it. Then they left. It was an interesting thing as the Professor had said. “No wonder the Professor didn’t stick around,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. With no actual battles happening today, I settled in and watched the highlight reels.
The trio didn’t find it too interesting, because they weren’t active battles. And since they were still tired they decided to return to their pokeballs. Cara however, did not. She watched each and every fight no matter who was fighting. I thought it was because she wanted to learn, and know what others were capable of, but then I realized she was just looking for a specific man and Pokemon.
She sat beside me and I saw how she tensed at every new match when the Trainers were introduced. All the clips were of the Elite Four battles, which were rather intense but purposefully done in a way that you couldn’t really get more than a basic understanding. And after about forty minutes, it looped. I could see how she tensed up, glaring at the screen.
Gently I placed my hand onto hers and she slowly relaxed. “We’ll see him. There’s still a lot of tournament left.” She nodded and returned to her ball. I really hoped that he would show up. Otherwise it was going to be a lot harder to track him down.
After that, we made our way to the hotel. On my way out I was given a schedule pamphlet, which just let me know the start and end times for battles. The hotel was nice, and I was not surprised to find out that it was the Professor’s room, according to the person at the desk who stopped me. This was also apparently not the first time he’d done this, so they weren’t going to keep me out. I also found out that he would be charged for everything I ordered for room service.
He likes surprises? Well, I’m going to give him one.
In the room, I released my Pokemon, and immediately went for the menu. Everything on the menu was actually pretty cheap. Or at least it looked cheap. From what I knew, prices were from the earlier games. For instance, a basic pokeball costs two hundred pokedollars, and an ultra ball is twelve hundred. Honestly if not for the Pokecenter offering food and shelter, the five thousand they give new Trainers would hardly help.
I did eventually order food for everyone after a while. The bed in here was much larger, and the room in general was much larger. There was even a couch and a television. Immediately I was curious as to what sort of shows were in the Pokemon world, and picked up the remote. What I found were a lot of dramas. Like, an absurd amount of dramas. Nearly every channel was showing dramas. A few of them were actually Pokemon dramas, with translated subtitles. I noticed that the subtitles often didn’t have anything to do with what the Pokemon were actually saying, and more often than not they were just talking about random things.
The other thing I saw was a lot of news. So much news, and all of it was focused on the League. I left it on that, as they were talking about big names. Cara was interested as well, but they weren’t showing pictures of the Trainers, or talking about their Pokemon. “That’s annoying…”
“I don’t know his name,” Cara said, obviously frustrated at it as well.
Eventually I found some cartoons, which seemed to be in a very Mystery Dungeon style. They were of Pokemon, but used actual English for the language. The trio was immediately transfixed. That was what they wanted to do. That was what Team Speed Shell wanted to be. The cartoon characters even had guild badges. It was…actually scary how accurate it was to the Mystery Dungeon, including the main character being a human turned into a Pokemon.
~
According to the time pamphlet, the first battles would be at eight. So I woke up a bit before seven, got everyone breakfast once again on the Professor’s dollar, and went back to booth twenty one. I did have to show my ticket to several security guards who stopped me, since I didn’t have that magic buffer of Pokemon Professor.
I was apparently the first one there, aside from the bartender. After looking at their alcohol selection, I decided to just get a soda. Which was free apparently. All food and drink in the booth was free. These must be some serious VIP tickets.
The first day was honestly boring. There was a match on every field every thirty minutes, but all of them were one sided. One Pokemon wiping out the opponents team with little effort. There were some good matches between some obviously newer Trainers, but by ten at night when the last match ended I came to one conclusion; the match order was rigged.
It was almost painfully obvious. No one with any actual skill struggled. In fact, they were paired up against Trainers that obviously looked like they had struggled to even get here. Someone who hasn’t even reached the third stage with any of their Pokemon? Surely putting them against a Charizard is a fair fight.
Chapter 4
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Riolu - Daughter of Cara
Veni - Venipede - Adopted daughter of Cara
Popplio - Popplio - Rescued from aquarium
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Chapter Text
As the days passed it became more and more obvious. The second, third, fourth, and fifth days were just a repeat. Those with powerful Pokemon were conveniently not put against anyone particularly strong. On the sixth day, I wasn’t even paying attention. The trio and Cara were still interested, but I could tell they were starting to get bored. It was a good thing that we weren’t staying for the second week.
I had been spending my time going more thoroughly through the useless books I had been given, and messaging Professor Oak. I had asked him where I could find recipes on how to make certain things. I knew how to make curry, since the game went into fairly good detail on that and I wasn’t a bad cook. But I wanted to know how to make things like pokeblocks, and poke puffs. Unfortunately he didn’t know.
Rather reluctantly I had asked Professor Sycamore, but he didn’t know either. Or rather than not knowing, he changed the subject asking if I was that bored already. I informed him that it was hard to be interested when it was so obviously rigged. That had actually confused him, as he apparently didn’t know what I was talking about. So I explained what I had observed.
This apparently annoyed him. His annoyance wasn’t towards me, but to the local Association branch that was supposed to be running the League. He hadn’t watched the Prelims in a few years and I guess no one had ever brought this up to him before. It sounded like he had another thing that he was supposed to be checking on that he let slip through.
I decided to not even stay for day seven, and instead I got on a train that was heading towards Geosenge. I was a bit surprised to find the train completely empty, but the conductor seemed more surprised to see me leaving early. The trio had decided to remain in their pokeballs, apparently still a bit tired from all the excitement of the Prelims. Cara however wanted to sit beside me.
It was honestly rather adorable how she showed affection. She always sat close to me, and would sit practically against me if we were alone or she thought no one was watching. I could feel her lean into me. She wouldn’t look at me while she did this, and would sometimes grab hold of my clothing. It was like she wanted to be close but was embarrassed.
On the way I made the call to the ranch. “Nurse Joy of Joy Ranch speaking.” It was interesting seeing a Nurse Joy not wearing some sort of medical outfit, as this one seemed to be wearing a more ranch appropriate outfit. Overalls and a red flannel included.
“Hi Nurse Joy, my name is Jason. I believe Santalune Nurse Joy told you about me?” I hoped that referring to them by what town they were in was the right thing, but I didn’t know how else to differentiate them.
“Oh, Jason. Right, my cousin mentioned you would want to visit.” She seemed rather pleased that someone would actually take an interest in the ranch.
“Yes, well, I’m currently heading towards Geosenge, so I was wondering if you would be available tomorrow?”
“Oh, is it already the second week of the League? I totally lost track of time.” She seemed to lean a bit to the side, checking something that I couldn’t see. “Yeah, that would be fine. I can meet you at the Pokecenter tomorrow.”
“That works.” I was glad that it would be soon.
“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow.” She hung up before I had a chance to properly say a goodbye. She seemed quite busy.
The rest of the train ride was rather uneventful. The train didn’t even really stop at all, barely slowing at stations. The whole region was truly obsessed with the League. But I could understand that. The idea of watching Pokemon battles was exciting. But seeing what they were doing, and seeing hundreds of battles in the games and anime, it was rather boring.
Seeing the ocean was nice. There were so many Pokemon out there. Even though the water made me nervous. I shook my head a bit, and Cara looked over and put a paw on my leg, apparently sensing my discomfort. “Ah, I have problems with water.”
“Problems?” She tilted her head to the side.
“It just makes me nervous when I can’t see the bottom,” I explained. She didn’t seem to understand, but it was obvious that she was concerned and did her best to comfort me. Though her comforting simply consisted of petting my leg.
The rest of the ride passed in comfortable silence. There was something about just sort of sitting there with a Pokemon. I really hoped that I would never get used to this feeling.
Eventually we arrived in Geosenge, and Cara went back into her pokeball. I wasn’t really surprised that she didn’t want to walk around the town with me, especially after finding out I was going to go shopping.
The Pokemart was actually really interesting. It was like a compact supermarket. Though the reason that it was compact was because there weren’t many brands. There seemed to only be at most two or three brands for products, and many were only a single brand. The most variety was in Pokemon food, things like high protein meat for carnivore Pokemon, food with metals in it for steel types, special plant mixtures for grass types.
Of the five thousand pokedollars I had, I spent four thousand. Rice, a few types of pokechow, spices, a large variety of curry blocks, and berries. So many berries. I wanted to buy some vitamins, but the cheapest one was ten thousand. I did see maps while shopping, but they were extremely expensive.
I was going to leave when I spotted a clothing rack with dozens of discount jackets. It was rather chilly in Kalos and I had just been dealing with it. But a coat would be nice. I spent a few minutes looking through them until I found one that I liked. It was a black short trench coat with a hood. The coat part went down to my knees and flared backward nicely when it was open. I thought it looked pretty good on me. It cost eight hundred, which hurt my wallet, but I wanted a coat and this was my style.
With all that bought, I headed towards the center of town, following a sign that indicated where the strange rock structure was. It was probably a rather interesting tourist attraction when the League wasn’t going on. It was…rather unimpressive and I quickly made my way towards the north west side of town.
I wasn’t entirely sure what I was looking for, since it was just a large rock in the game. And that’s actually what I ended up finding. It was an off looking rock formation just sitting in the open. This was supposedly the entrance of Team Flare’s secret HQ. “Cara.”
She appeared beside me, looking around in confusion. “What’s wrong?” She was really good at sensing my emotions.
Looking around, I was trying to make sure no one was looking. “Can you sense anyone watching us?” Her eyes flashed violet for a moment before she shook her head. That was actually the first time I had seen her actively use Aura Sense. “That rock. Can you sense anything in it?”
Her confusion only increased, but she turned to look at the large boulder. Again her eyes flashed and she suddenly blinked, tilting her head to the side. “Yes? There’s a room?”
“Damn.” I looked around again, trying to catch even a glimpse of a red or white coat, but it didn’t look like there was anyone around. That probably meant that Team Flare’s base was indeed here, or at least some structure was there probably containing the ultimate weapon.
This was concerning.
“Alright…thank you.”
She was suddenly touching my coat, curious at my new wardrobe addition. “I like it,” she said after a moment.
I laughed softly and nodded. “Yeah I like it, too.” There was a moment of silence as she gave me another look over before she nodded and returned to her pokeball. I had a smile on my face as I turned and began to make my way to the Pokecenter. It was about noon, and lunch sounded good.
Glancing back once again at the stone I caught a glimpse of something hiding in its shadow. I stopped, staring at the rough familiar shape of an Espurr. The same Espurr. Was it following me? Or did it just happen to wander here? It had been a while since I’d seen it. And I was confident that it was the same one as it had that same feeling of being off, except now I could see what was off with it.
It was pink. It was a shiny? Pokemon could be shiny in this world? Was it some sort of genetic thing? I had so many questions suddenly. Shiny hunting was something a lot of people did, and I had even tried it a few times but never had any luck even after dozens of hours. I had patience, but not that much.
As I turned to head back and get a closer look at the Pokemon, it disappeared. I paused, waiting for a few minutes, but it didn’t come back. Well, I suppose I will leave it for now. If it was actually following me, it wouldn’t be long before I saw it again. Once is a chance, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a pattern.
~
It was actually kind of jarring to walk into an identical Pokemon center, seeing an identical Nurse Joy, and a Wigglytuff with a little medical cap. “Hi there, how can I help you?” she asked with a smile.
“Uh- Hello Nurse Joy,” I said as I walked towards the table. “Sorry, forgot where I was for a second. Spent so much time at the Santalune Pokecenter.” I rubbed my head a bit. “I’m going to chalk that up to the concussion…” I mumbled.
She blinked at me. “Concussion? Ah, you must be Jason. My cousin has been talking about you.” There was a concerned expression on her face. “Did you want a checkup while you’re here?”
I thought about it for a moment and nodded. “That’s probably a good idea. It can take… a few months to fully recover from a concussion, right?”
Wigglytuff was already making her way around the counter. “Do you need your Pokemon checked on as well?” the pink Pokemon asked.
“No, they’re fine. They haven’t battled since their last checkup. We’ve just been watching the League.”
She frowned at me. “It’s still a good idea to get them checked while you’re here.”
I decided to quickly change my tune and nodded a bit. “Right, right. Don’t want to argue with a medical professional giving good advice,” I said as I removed the clip from my belt.
“That’s right. We know best,” she declared proudly.
“I would usually agree with you,” I agreed.
“Usually?”
“Well no one is incapable of making mistakes,” I reasoned, though it was hard to simply not say that even a doctor can be an idiot. “I’m sure you have disagreed with Nurse Joy before, yes?”
She had to think about this for a moment before nodding. “Yes, there have been times. Like when she overreacted to a newborn Axew that got sick.”
I chuckled a bit. “Oh? Well it is concerning for newborns.”
“Gosh, don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Nurse Joy said with a huff, having also come around the counter.
This time I laughed. “Sorry, sorry.” I handed my pokeball clip to Wigglytuff, who waddled off with it.
“Alright, come with me,” Nurse Joy said as she led me to the back. It was a quick checkup and only took a few minutes. “Well, you’re healing well. Like, amazingly well. From what I heard you got hit with a bat or something?”
I nodded. “Yeah, messed me up pretty good. But I’m glad I’m recovering.”
She nodded, and a silence fell as she filled out a bit of paperwork. After a few minutes she finally spoke, “Yanno, it’s really interesting watching you talk with Pokemon. I wish I could get to that level of communication.”
“Ah- yeah. I sometimes forget that not everyone can…and it honestly feels like quite a gift. I wonder if it’s because of the concussion. Or something else.” Since Arceus supposedly created the Pokemon language, it wouldn’t be surprising if he gave me this ability.
“Maybe… but I doubt that it’s because of the concussion.” She gave me a bit of a smile. “Other than the residual head injury trauma, which not even Pokemon can just shrug off, you seem pretty healthy.”
“So a Pokemon wouldn’t heal from this quickly?” I asked, curious as the sound of long lasting injuries was worrisome.
“Pokemon are hardy, and heal extremely quickly. Humans aren’t that far behind, especially with medical treatment. It was only because it took so long for you to get help that it was this bad at all. If a Pokemon had received this injury, they would either need immediate treatment, or be put into pokeball stasis as soon as possible,” she explained.
I nodded slowly. I had to admit that I honestly felt a lot stronger and tougher since coming to this world. Which seemed to be the norm? I guess in order to survive in a world of Pokemon you needed to be a bit tougher. “That makes sense.”
She nodded a bit and Wigglytuff entered the room. “Everyone’s all good,” she said with a smile, handing me the belt clip.
“Thank you.”
Immediately she took a step back and put her hands on her nurse hat. “No petting,” she said threateningly.
I laughed. “Yes yes, I know. No head pats, as much as I want to.”
Nurse Joy smiled a bit and tried not to laugh, hiding her mouth behind her hand. “Head pats?”
“Cute Pokemon,” I said as I gestured at Wigglytuff. “Cute Pokemon deserve head pats.”
Wigglytuff puffed up a bit before leaving the room as Nurse Joy broke out in giggles. “Head pats, huh?”
“Yeah, the Santalune Wigglytuff doesn’t like me patting her head either,” I said with a chuckle. “Hopefully the nurse I get will like them.”
“Right, my cousin mentioned you wanted a nurse Pokemon to travel with?” she asked, wanting to confirm.
I nodded. “Yeah. I think it would be a great idea.”
“Can’t say I’ve ever heard of a Trainer wanting to do that. You know she’s probably not going to want to fight, right?”
“I’m not a typical Trainer,” I said with a smile. “And it’s fine if they don’t want to fight. I don’t want to force anyone to fight if they don’t want to.”
She looked at me for a moment, as if trying to confirm if what I said was true. Eventually she nodded. “Alright. Go and rest up. You’re still healing.”
“Yes, Nurse Joy. Thank you.”
~
After we all had lunch, we spent time sitting in one of the rooms provided by the pokecenter. It was extremely familiar, which felt nice. I actually preferred this small little room in comparison to the expensive hotel. The trio had found my new jacket interesting, but eventually lost interest and began their wrestling competitions while Cara watched from the edge of the bed.
I awoke in the morning to find everyone piled on top of me again. It was always amusing to see Cara just laying with her face pressed into my shoulder. Though it suddenly reminded me of the same position someone would take when they cried into someone's shoulder. Did she do that? Did she wait for everyone to fall asleep before crying?
I wasn’t given a chance to think about it more as there was a knock at the door. As usual Cara used Extreme Speed to get on her feet and into a defensive position. She really did not like when someone came to the door.
Since everyone else was still asleep I simply returned them to their pokeballs before getting up. I threw on my coat as Cara opened the door. “Finally. Come on, we’re burning day-” the Joy stopped when she saw not a person at the door, but a Lucario.
The two of them seemed to lock eyes for a moment before I walked up. “Sorry, I didn’t expect you this early,” I said and then looked down at Cara. She was glaring at the woman in front of her, clearly annoyed at being woken up. I put my hand on her head, ruffling her fur a bit. “So aggressive,” I said with a chuckle.
She batted at my hand, but I noticed not with enough force to actually push my hand away. Maybe I should try petting her more when we were alone? “Why is she here so early?” she grumbled.
“Well, at least you’re good with Pokemon. Now, c’mon, I gotta get back to the ranch,” Joy said, though the previous edge to her voice had noticeably dropped.
“Right.” Cara went back into her pokeball as I followed behind this Joy. I waved goodbye to the Nurse Joy behind the counter, and wondered if she ever slept, before exiting the building. There in front of the Pokecenter was the most obvious farm truck to ever truck on a farm. It was even that classic blue, white, and rust that I saw in movies.
“It’s a fair distance outside of town,” she explained as she got in. I got in as well, noting immediately the lack of seatbelts. “Hold on.” Then, much to my not surprise, she floored it. I grabbed onto the bar above the door, and held onto it just hard enough to keep myself from falling out of my seat. At one point I swear I saw Officer Jenny flash by, yelling something, but if she was there she wasn’t in sight for long and I heard nothing.
Cobbled roads quickly gave way to dirt as we flew out of the city. I wasn’t exactly scared, I had been driven by some extremely bad drivers in my last life, and Joy was anything but a bad driver. She was just driving fast. “You could have just told me where the ranch was, I wouldn’t have minded the walk,” I said after a bit, doing my best to keep my voice level.
“Didn’t want you getting lost,” she responded, thankfully not taking her eyes off the road as she spoke.
I wasn’t sure how that would have been possible since we were driving in a fairly straight line. It didn’t even take that long before we pulled up to a large gate. I could see the sign beside it that said ‘Joy Ranch’. Looking out into the fields I could see a few Pokemon, but what really struck me was the massive school-like building off in the distance.
After a moment I saw a Wigglytuff making its way from the school and down the road at a jog. I looked at it, then looked at Joy, and then at it. “I can just… get out and open the gate?” I suggested.
Joy glanced at me, and then at the approaching Wigglytuff. She said nothing.
“I’m… I’m just gonna… Open the gate,” I said as I stepped out of the truck.
The Joy watched me as I went over, unlatched the gate, and pushed it open. I saw in the distance as the Wigglytuff slowed down, already puffing from their attempted sprint. They practically doubled over, gasping for breath.
Joy avoided looking at me as they drove through, and I closed the gate, making sure it was latched properly before moving back to the truck. Joy’s face was quite an intense shade of red. “They uh… might need a bit more physical training,” I suggested as we drove over to the building, passing the Wigglytuff who honestly had not even made it that far.
Joy just nodded, her face still very red from embarrassment. She didn’t say anything until she parked, clearing her throat. “Everyone is out back right now, so… we should go there,” she said as she began to head that way.
I followed her, looking over at Wigglytuff who was making their way back to the building at a seemingly more manageable pace.
“They were told last night that we would have a guest, who was possibly looking for a partner. They honestly seemed pretty excited, though I think that’s just because we never get guests who aren’t here for treatment,” as she finished we rounded the corner of the building. I was met with the sight of dozens of Pokemon; mostly Wigglytuff, but there were also some Audino and Indeedee.
They were all chattering excitedly, talking about this or that, mostly medical things, how their schooling was going, where they were hoping to go, difficult recent patient’s, and other miscellaneous things. However they all seemed to stop when they saw me. I saw their expressions light up and I watched as Joy quickly backed away before they all began to swarm around me, peppering me with questions.
I had honestly not seen so many Pokemon in such close proximity before and it was quite a delightful experience. “Hello, everyone,” I said, unable to keep myself from smiling. “My name is Jason. No, I'm not a doctor. No, I don't work at a Pokecenter. No, I’m not here from the Association.” I did my best to answer some of the questions that I had managed to catch.
None of that seemed to satiate their curiosity as to why I was here and they continued to ask questions, even the ones I had literally just answered.
Their excitement was honestly a bit infectious, and I couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “I’m looking for someone who would want to journey with me,” I tried to explain, but most of them seemed to not be listening as they chattered excitedly. “Are they always like this?” I asked Joy with a laugh.
“Like I said, no one ever comes to visit. This group is the one that’s going to graduate, so they’re excited,” Joy explained.
“Yes, I can see that,” I said, unable to help from laughing a bit more.
I spent the next few hours talking with them, Joy having to leave in order to do some work. She would obviously be very busy. I introduced the future nurse Pokemon to my own Pokemon, who all got more check ups than they probably would ever need. They were even quite interested in me, as I was recovering from a concussion.
What I realized as I interacted with them, was they were all excited to be nurses and go work in pokecenters. All of them. Though some of them thought that exploring the world would be interesting, none of them were particularly enthusiastic about it. That was something they wanted to do later in life, after being a nurse.
Eventually I managed to escape from them, moving away and leaning against the building. This was going to be more difficult than I thought… I might have to give up on getting a nurse for my team. I could live without one, but it would have been extremely useful.
One of the Audino approached me slowly, gently pulling on my coat. “Jason?”
“Mmm?” I looked down at her. “Yes?”
“Cara said you like helping Pokemon, right?” She seemed hesitant about something.
“I try my best,” I said truthfully.
“All your Pokemon say you do,” she continued.
I chuckled a bit, and nodded. “I guess I do like helping, yes.”
“Can you… help my mom?” They weren’t looking at me, staring off into the distance. I followed her gaze, but she wasn’t looking at anything I could see. “She won’t talk to us.”
“I can try,” I said softly, smiling at her.
She nodded. I noticed that there were a couple Audino behind her, all of them looking at me expectantly. “This way.” She began to lead me away from the building, the other Audino simply watching us leave.
Cara gave me a bit of a look, but I smiled at her. “It’s fine. I’ll be back in a while.”
After a few minutes of walking we came across a river flowing through the property. I could see a few water Pokemon swimming about, but the Audino pointed a bit up stream. There was another Audino sitting on the bank, staring at the water.
I was about to make my way over when a hand was placed on my shoulder. I looked over to see Joy looking at the Audino that had led me here, frowning at her. “She needs time,” Joy said, wearing quite the disapproving look. The look seemed to be enough to scare the little Pokemon away.
“What happened?” I asked, looking back at the Audino in the distance.
“She’s…” Joy hesitated before sighing. “She’s retired.”
“She doesn’t look that old,” I said.
“It has nothing to do with her age.” Again she sighed. “She was a breeder while here in school. Raised a lot of talented Pokemon while doing her schooling. She also has a real knack for medicine. But soon after she graduated and got assigned…” she trailed off and it took a few moments before she started again. “A few months ago, there was an attack on her Pokecenter.”
Now it was my turn to frown. “Who attacked it?”
“We don’t know. Some secret organization that hadn’t revealed their name… We don’t know the reason either. She did her best, but she wasn’t trained to be a fighter. The… Nurse Joy there didn’t make it.” I could hear the hurt in her voice, and her eyes were becoming a bit watery.
I gently placed my hand on her shoulder.
She took a deep breath. “I’m fine. But she… she took it much harder, because she was right there. She was right there, and she blames herself for not being able to protect her. Or anyone there. Not many survived.”
A slight, unpleasant, shiver ran down my spine and I was really forced to realize that this wasn’t a game, but real life - my life. People and Pokemon died here. I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “You…don’t mind if I talk to her?”
After a moment she shook her head. “No… My cousin said you’re really good at understanding Pokemon… maybe you can figure out how to help her better than I can.”
“I wouldn’t say better. I’m just lucky I can approach it from a different angle.” I pat her on the shoulder a bit before I started to walk over.
The Audino didn’t even move as I came over, sitting down beside her and looking at the river. She didn’t even look at me, just staring at the water. There wasn’t anything in particular that I could see her looking at. A few Pokemon swimming up or down the river, though nothing particularly large or unexpected.
I just sat with her. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what to say, but it wasn’t really for me to start this conversation. It was almost an hour before she finally spoke, “You’re the guest everyone’s been talking about?”
“Mhm. My name’s Jason, but you can call me Jace,” I said, looking at her. Her expression didn’t change, nor did she shift her gaze.
A few more minutes passed. “You’re here to get a nurse partner,” she stated flatly.
“I am.”
“Then why are you over here?”
I looked at her for a moment before responding, “Your children are worried about you. They wanted me to come talk to you.”
“What’s there to talk about?”
“Oh there’s lots to talk about,” I leaned back a bit on my hands. “Like, the Pokemon in the river.”
“I don’t want to talk about that,” she said coldly.
“Then what do you want to talk about?” I asked, looking at her back. She had scars.
There were several minutes of silence before she spoke again, “Why are you here?”
“Well, I came to the ranch hoping to find a nurse Pokemon who would want to come along with me on my journey.” I sighed a bit. “But it’s pretty obvious that no one wants to come along.”
“And you’re okay with that?” She actually turned a bit, looking a bit towards me but not at me. “You’re okay with failing?”
“Failing? Is that what you think?” She didn’t respond. “I’m not going to force anyone to be my friend, or leave their home, or go somewhere they don’t want to go. That’s not the type of person I am.”
I waited a moment for her to respond, but she just turned her attention back to the river.
“Am I disappointed?” I continued, talking more to myself now. “Sure. A bit, but I also got to experience something by coming here. I got to see the next generation of nurse Pokemon. Who gets to do that besides Joy?” I remained silent for a moment before adding, “It’s not comparable.”
“What isn’t?”
“My experience coming here,” I said before fully laying back. “But I… I do know a bit about how you feel,” I said softly. “I am… so far from home. And I don’t think I can ever go back.” I watched the clouds for a moment before taking a deep breath and closing my eyes. “My friends. My family. I’ll… I’ll never get to see any of them ever again.”
“Why?” I opened my eyes to see that she had actually turned to look at me.
“Because I’m not from here. I’m not… not even from this world. Someone decided that what was in my pockets was worth more than my life. And for some reason," I continued with an unexpected, venomous edge, "for some fucking reason… Arceus decides to throw me here. A place I don’t know anyone. A place I have no family. No friends.”
Again she was silent.
With a sigh I sat back up. “So I decided to make new friends. Make a new family… And I think I’ve done a pretty good job at that so far.” I looked at her a moment before holding out my hand to her. “Audino… You have friends…and family… Who love you, and are worried about you.”
I had expected her to ignore me, turn her attention back to the river. Instead, I saw her face scrunch up a bit as tears welled up in her eyes. Tiredly, like all the strength left her, she seemed to sag. Her head hit my chest, her hands weakly grasping at my coat as tears streamed down her face. I put my arms around her, rubbing her back.
Closing my eyes, I simply held her. It was interesting that this was the second time I had a Pokemon sobbing in my arms. If someone heard about that they would think I’m a horrible person, making Pokemon cry. But Audino was completely different from Popplio. Popplio had been sad because she had been abandoned and ignored. Audino was bottling everything up and pushing everyone away.
It took a long time for her to calm down. She didn’t fall asleep, just slowly becoming quieter with just a few sniffles every now and then. I had no problem sitting with her, gently petting her. She had short soft fur covering her body, and I tried to be gentle because I didn’t know if her scars still hurt. It was interesting to learn that Pokemon could scar, and I wondered what it took to leave scars. Probably a lot.
“Why?” she asked softly.
I made a little, “Mm?” noise, not quite sure what she was asking about.
“Why would someone do that?” she mumbled into my chest.
Closing my eyes a sigh escaped me. “Someone who’s more of an optimist would probably try and reason things out, say that there’s a reason. But sometimes the reason doesn’t matter. Sometimes… people are just evil.” I rubbed the back of her head. “And it’s not fair. It’s not fair that someone can just…decide to be evil and inflict that on others.”
“So there was no reason?”
“I didn’t say that,” I responded quickly. “I’m saying the reason doesn’t matter. There is no excuse that they can make to justify what they did. Some acts of evil are beyond any sort of reason.”
She was silent for a moment before saying, “I don’t understand.”
I had to think about it for a moment. “Stealing a loaf of bread because you’re starving is a reasonable evil. Hurting someone to keep them from hurting others is a reasonable evil. There was probably a reason for those people doing what they did, but it doesn’t matter. What they did was so evil that no excuse or reason they could have could justify it.”
“But… I want to know the reason…”
I sighed a bit, petting her more. “I can’t help you there. You’d have to go to Galar and find out.”
It was a bit longer before she pulled away, sniffling and wiping at her face. I smiled a bit at her, petting the top of her head for a moment before offering my hand again. It took a few moments before she slowly put her hand into mine. I stood up, and pulled her up onto her feet as I did.
She seemed a bit startled at my action, but realized my intent when I started walking, gently pulling her along. There was a bit of hesitation in her step, and I matched my pace to hers. There was conflict on her face, but isolating herself was not going to help her. Shutting yourself off when you’re going through things is not good for your mental health. I learned that from experience.
When we finally made our way around the building we were met with a rather interesting sight. The trio were fighting. Not play fighting as they normally did, but actually battling. I wondered for a moment if there had been some sort of argument between them when I realized they were surrounded by nurse Pokemon.
“Bunch of little battle junkies,” I said with a chuckle.
“Ah, you’re back,” Joy said. She was leaning against the wall not far from me, and I hadn’t noticed her.
I nodded a bit, glancing at the Audino, who was still holding my hand. The other Audino had noticed our presence and their focus had turned towards us. She looked at the ground, avoiding the gazes from the others. “It’s okay,” I said softly, smiling down at her. “They’re your family. They just want you to be okay.”
With a nod she slowly let go of my hand and approached the group. There were a few moments of silence before they all seemed to collectively begin asking if she’s okay and began to hug and touch her, crying as they did so. She started crying too, apologizing for how she had acted. There was a lot of discussion, many of them telling her she had nothing to apologize for, and that they understood she was going through a hard time.
“You really are good with Pokemon,” Joy said as she watched the interaction.
“I’m honestly glad that I am.”
There were a few moments of silence between us. I was watching the trio battle, and were extremely rough on each other. Or at least Rio and Veny were rough, I did notice how they held back a bit against Popplio. Cara was also watching them, coaching from what I could tell. “I’m- I’m sorry none of them wanted to go with you,” Joy said after a time.
“Hm?” I turned to look at her. “Oh. No worries,” I said with a smile before turning back. “I knew it was a possibility. And it’s not like I based my whole life plans on it. I've got backups. Cara and Rio can learn Heal Pulse and Life Dew.” I turned my attention back to the group of Audinos. “Besides… I managed to do some good.”
She also looked over at the group of Audino, who had seemed to have calmed down some. They were now talking to her about other things, catching her up on what had happened while she was recuperating. Like she had just been on vacation. “Yeah… You did. But I still feel kind of bad about it.”
“Don’t,” I said with a bit of a smile. “I’m not going to feel bad about it, so there’s no reason for you to.” While it was true I didn’t feel too bad about it, it was still a bit disappointing that none of the dozens of Pokemon were interested in coming with. Though another thought struck me. “There is something else you might be able to help me with.”
Her attention slowly looked over at me, a bit puzzled and a bit suspicious. “What sort?”
I chuckled a bit. “I just wanted to know if you had information on pokeblocks and how to make them. Honestly I’d even take information on how to make poffins, or poke puffs.”
She arched a brow at me. “Oh is that all?” She stood up from her position against the wall. “Don’t have poke puff recipes, since those don’t really help with recovery or growth, but I’ve got some books on pokeblocks and poffins you can look through.”
That actually surprised me that she had them. “Really? I’d appreciate it. I asked Professor Sycamore, but he said he didn’t know.”
Giggles escaped her as she shook her head, leading me off towards one of the doors to the building. “Doesn’t surprise me. His head is filled with rocks.”
I laughed a bit as well. Knowing his focus of study, it was a very appropriate thing to say about him. “I see.” We entered the building which immediately reminded me of a mixture of hospital and school, clean white halls with fluorescent lights and those extremely familiar ceiling tiles.
“Although, I’m kind of surprised you want to learn to make them. They’re not easy to make, and most Trainers just buy them if they really want them.” We walked for a bit until we entered a sort of library. There were a few Pokemon in here, reading from books.
“It’s partially curiosity, but mostly I want to be able to make them myself so I know exactly what I’m feeding to Pokemon.” I had read some of the ingredients on some of the poke snacks and pokechow and some of them sounded dubious, or had way too much salt or sugar to make them taste better.
She nodded a bit to that, pulling out a few books. “That’s understandable. I can’t let you take the books, but you can look at them.” She placed them down on a table. “Not many Trainers take diet into account when raising Pokemon, and in extreme cases it can be really bad for them.”
I took a look at the books placed on the table, there were three books on pokeblocks, and one book on poffins. Flipping through them they were all just recipes. “Diet is very important. With how active Pokemon are, they need the appropriate vitamins and minerals to properly replenish their energies.”
Joy giggled a bit. “You sound like a breeder.” She paused, giving me quite a peculiar look. “Were you a breeder?”
My hand stopped mid page turn, remaining still for a few seconds before I looked at her, a bit confused. Then I remembered that most people thought I had amnesia. My brow furrowed as I tried to think of a proper response. That question had caught me off guard. I suppose if you think about all the Pokemon breeding I did in the games, “Maybe?”
“That could be a good clue,” she said as she leaned towards me a bit. “If you were a breeder then you would be registered somewhere. And your knowledge would make a lot of sense.”
I nodded slowly. “But… then Officer Jenny would have already found who I was?”
There was a moment of silence before she suddenly deflated. “Right. Right… your identity would have come up day one…”
Shifting my focus back to the books I realized quickly why there were so many recipes for pokeblocks compared to poffins. Pokeblocks were a lot harder to make, but you could do so much more with them. High quality pokeblocks could actually improve the internal energy of a Pokemon. Of course, these types of pokeblocks couldn’t be fed to a Pokemon too often or else they’ll get sick. Pokeblocks also required some specialized tools to make, like a berry blender and a pokeblock press.
It was all fascinating stuff. I had been super curious about how pokeblocks and poffins worked if they were real, and they seem like super-multivitamins for Pokemon. Something to help in growth and recovery. “Hm… Do you mind if I take pictures?”
“What?”
I pulled out my phone and gestured to the books. “Pictures?”
“Oh! Uh… Sure, go ahead.” She seemed a bit puzzled, not quite understanding what I was talking about.
Going to the photo app that I downloaded I began taking pictures of every single page. I did have to make sure the quality was good enough to read, but surprisingly it was actually really high quality. With that note app that I had I could spend downtime transcribing recipes. Maybe I could make my own app? I had no idea how they programmed in this world, but I could give that a shot.
It took half an hour to photograph every page, and I put my phone away with a smile. “There. Now I can look at all that in depth later.”
“That’s actually a really good idea,” Joy said as I collected the books back up and put them away. “Never seen anyone copy a book like that.”
“Really? It just came to me. I think I’ve done it before,” I mused, knowing for a fact that I had done something very similar. I had no idea what copyright laws existed here, but I’m sure whoever published those books would try and get me if they knew what I just did.
“Hm. Well, it’s about lunch time, so let’s get something to eat.”
After gathering all the Pokemon up, we all had lunch. It was the exact sort of food they served in Pokecenters. Was there some sort of book that they followed? It was a bit interesting how every pokecenter was so similar, though seeing the place where the Pokemon are all trained it made sense that they would all be the same. Then it was time to leave.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to give you a ride back into town?” Joy asked for the third time.
I shook my head. “Nah, it’s alright. I know you have a lot of work today. It’s a straight shot back to town, and I can just catch a train back to League City. Gotta rack up more of a tab on the Professor’s dollar.”
That got her to smile a bit and nod. “Alright. If you’re sure.” We said our goodbyes, and she headed back inside.
We walked down the long road to the gate. “That was fun!” Rio said.
“I’m glad you had fun,” I said, chuckling a bit. Rio was sitting on her mothers shoulders, as Popplio had stolen her seat on Veny’s back.
“It’s a shame that we did not accomplish our goal,” Cara said with a bit of a frustrated look on her face.
I shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. And I did get information that I wanted, so it was worth coming here.”
A lot of padding noise behind us caused me to look back, to see quite a number of Audino coming. I stopped walking, curious to see what they wanted. They all seemed a bit out of breath by the time they caught up with us. One of them came forward and I recognized them immediately as the one who I had helped.
She looked flustered. “You’re just leaving?”
I blinked at her. “Well, yes? Did you think I would be staying?”
“No that’s…” She looked at me a moment before huffing and holding out her hand towards me. In her hand was a pokeball.
I raised an eyebrow at her, looking at the pokeball for a moment, and then at her. “Are you sure?”
“You’re not leaving without me,” she said rather resolutely.
I smiled at her as I held out my hand. “I’d love to have you join us.”
She firmly put the pokeball in my hand, there was a smile on her face. “My name is Deeno, but everyone calls me Dee.” The other Audino cheered and celebrated as they made their way back towards the school. It looked like they were happy that she had gotten better.
“It’s wonderful to have you aboard, Dee.” I was still smiling as I shrank down her pokeball and put it onto my belt.
There was quite a large smile on her face as she put her hands on her hips. “I’m actually kind of excited to go see some league battles.”
“Ah, about that.” I made sure that the group of Pokemon had gotten distance before I started to walk. “While we are going back there, we aren’t going immediately back.”
She moved up to walk beside me. “Then… where are we going?”
I pointed off into the distance towards the mountains. “Reflection Cave.”
The biggest reason I wanted to go to Reflection Cave was because it was literally right there. I honestly felt extremely restricted. Here I was in the Pokemon world, but I wasn’t allowed to explore it. This was the perfect opportunity to do a bit of wandering.
Everyone seemed rather excited about it as well, even Dee. She had been living so close for so long but had never gone. Though her excitement waned pretty quick after a few hours of hiking. She was used to walking around on floors, not hiking up a mountain.
Eventually we stopped near a stream, much to her relief. “It’s our first night out,” I said as I started to pull things out of my bag. “First… we set up the tent.” Said tent was actually inflatable, and could be used as a raft. Following the instructions, I staked it down and then found the inflate valve. There was a small foot pump as well, which I hooked up.
Rather than do it myself, I asked if the trio would like to help out while I make food. They were all on board and I explained what they were supposed to do. And then they made a game out of it. Cara and Dee had actually gathered a bunch of firewood while I was messing with the tent.
As I was working to get the fire going, which was pretty easy since I had a firestarter kit, I had a rather concerning thought. I had never cooked anything over a fire aside from marshmallows. This was going to be a learning experience. Thankfully Dee actually knew how to cook, as it was something taught. And they were supposedly good at it.
Using berries I did a nature test. By cutting up a berry of each of the four flavors into five pieces and asking everyone to try each one and tell me which one they liked. After the experiment I had a good idea of all of their natures. Cara was neutral on every flavor, and judging from her personality she had a bashful nature. Rio liked sour and really didn’t like spicy, so she had a bold nature. Veny liked sweet, and didn’t like dry, so her nature was jolly. Popplio and Dee both liked the dry berry, but Dee didn’t like spicy which made her nature modest, and Popplio didn’t like sour which made her nature mild.
It was interesting that only two of them had an overlapping liked flavor. I wasn’t sure of the accuracy of natures, but it was how I kept it in my head and for the most part it all matched up. I made notes of it on my phone, just in case I ever forgot. Mostly I did this to know what each of my Pokemon liked rather than knowing their nature. Now that I knew what they liked I would have to make the curry, portion it out into fourths with extra for Cara, and then finish it with the appropriate flavored berry.
Wait. Six. I was here, too. I had to make food for myself, too. Well, I would make everyone else’s portion and taste each one to determine which one I liked more. However in the end I didn’t really dislike any of them, so I tried a spicy berry and a bitter one as well, but I didn’t particularly like or dislike either. Do I have a neutral nature? Or do humans just not have natures? That would be kind of lame.
I decided that the best possible thing would be to make up four portions of each flavor, just making a bit extra of each, and then use the remains of all four for Cara and I’s servings. It actually worked out pretty well, especially with Dee helping me cook. She asked a lot of questions, having never heard of a recipe quite like what I was trying to make. Which did make me realize all the food I had was rather basic things.
Food was very important, and in the games and anime food could be used to help Pokemon. So I would ask everyone to tell me how they felt after they ate, if they liked it, if they felt any different. I wanted to know if there were effects from the curry.
Personally I thought it was really good, but I was biased. Though judging by how greedily everyone ate the food, I had to assume everyone thought it was good. “Better than the Pokecenter food,” Rio said, happily rubbing her stomach.
Dee looked like she wanted to say something, but instead sighed. “I do have to admit it is better than what we prepare…”
“Well it’s not really fair to compare it. You have to make it for dozens and dozens of people and Pokemon of all types and sorts, and make a huge variety of it.” I smiled a bit, I was about half way done with my plate. “We can make it special.”
“I think it’s cus you and Dee made it.” Popplio said with a smile; she still had sauce on her face.
I chuckled as I pulled out a napkin and reached over, wiping the sauce from her face. “Well, I’m glad you liked it so much.” I looked around at everyone, not able to see any physical change. “So, how does everyone feel?”
There was a bit of confusion on everyone’s faces, not quite understanding what I was asking. Dee was the first to suddenly gain an expression of realization, and looked down at herself. “My legs don’t hurt anymore?” she said in confusion.
That at least confirmed that it did have some sort of healing effect. In the game, curry would give an experience boost, restore health and energy, and make Pokemon more social. More testing would need to be done to truly know the effects.
The other Pokemon seemed a bit confused, but there was a general consensus that everyone felt better after eating. If that’s all it did, that would be good enough. “When I have more money, I’ll be able to make all sorts of dishes,” I mused, wondering again how best to make money.
Everyone was already looking forward to the next meal. After washing all of the cooking pots, plates, and bowls, I put everything away. I did a quick washcloth wipe down of myself before going into the tent. When I entered I was immediately stunned; it had the same expanded space technology used on the bag. I was really going to have to thank the professor again for all the things he gave me.
Although it was sparse and had no decorations or furnishings, it was an extremely large room. Clearly it was made for really big Pokemon to be able to be in here. Maybe a Wailord? It could easily fit four or five Onyx and have room for a snorlax.
What sort of Pokemon did the Professor think I was going to get that I was going to need this much room? Once Veny reached her final evolution she would be the biggest Pokemon I have. But even then Scolipede were only just about eight feet.
Either way, I set out my bedroll and laid on top of it. Thankfully it was warm enough in here that I didn’t have to actually get into it. As per usual I was dogpiled by Pokemon once they realized it was time to sleep. To my surprise, Audino actually laid down above my head, scooting in close to the point that my head was actually resting a bit on her stomach. She was probably there because she knew I had a head injury and wanted to keep an eye on it.
After breaking camp in the morning, we continued our hike up the mountain. If I estimated correctly, we would reach it in a few hours; well before noon. However, the walk was soon interrupted as my phone rang. I was a bit puzzled at who was calling, but glad that I had service. Pulling out the phone, I could see that it was Ranch Joy.
I answered, “Hello, Joy. What-”
“Is Audino with you?” she asked hurriedly, looking rather frazzled.
I blinked, looking at her for a moment. “Yes, she is,” I said as I shifted the camera view so that Dee was in the background, struggling to keep pace with the rest of the group but somehow managing.
She let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank Arceus… She wasn’t at the breakfast headcount and I panicked. And I couldn’t understand the other Audinos explanation.”
“Ah.” I looked back at Dee, realizing that she didn’t tell Joy before leaving. And I could tell from her attempt at looking innocent she had done that on purpose. “Well, she followed me out with her pokeball. Sorry, I thought you let her.”
“No, no. It’s fine. She’s officially retired, so it’s fine. I just… I just would have liked to have been informed rather than finding out the way that I did.” She looked rather annoyed as she looked past me at Dee.
“Yes, I can understand that.” With how she had been dealing with her grief, I could imagine the first place Joy checked was the river, and not finding her there made her panic even more. Trauma can lead to people doing very stupid things.
Dee looked a bit apologetic. “I didn’t think she would let me go…”
“You should have still told her,” I said softly, reaching out and rubbing the top of her head.
She nodded, looking at Joy on the phone. “I’m sorry. I just… I really wanted to go and was worried you would say no.”
Joy sighed a bit, shaking her head. “It’s fine. Just, don’t worry your new Trainer, okay?” She smiled a bit.
Dee smiled back and nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m sorry as well,” I added. “I should have checked with you, but she showed up with her pokeball and a group of Audino so I thought you were aware.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. She’s fine, you’re fine. I’ve got to get back to work now.” And then she hung up without saying goodbye.
I blinked and then laughed to myself as I put my phone away. “You’re a bit more of a troublemaker than I thought you’d be, Dee.”
She huffed at me, but she couldn’t really refute it. With that interesting interaction we all continued our way up the mountain. With such a group as ours, most Pokemon were avoiding us. I could see some run away, like Nidoran, Nidorinas and Nidorinos, though the vast majority did nothing more than watch us pass, like the large number of Starly and Staravias. There was even one of the many Pikachu clone Pokemon, Dedenne, sitting in a bush.
At about noon, after walking through some rather rocky terrain, we came across a rather large cave opening, and I could see the shine of crystals. I decided that before entering, we would all have lunch and so I pulled out the cooking supplies, and Cara took the trio out to collect firewood. With Dee helping to set up, everything went rather quickly.
As Dee and I made food, I could see several Pokemon watching us from a distance. In the game, making curry had a chance to draw in wild Pokemon who would want to join your team, though I’m sure in real life the smell of food would attract all numbers of creatures.
When the food was done and we sat down to eat, I started to do rough calculations in my head on how much each portion was. It cost about three hundred pokedollars to feed everyone, including myself. The most expensive part of it was the berries, the cheapest part being rice. I hadn’t seen any berries while we were walking, which was to be expected considering how many Pokemon there were.
If I had bought food specifically just for curry, I would have had about thirteen meals worth, but I didn’t plan for that. I didn’t know everyone’s tastes, and I bought far more berries than I needed. I had enough ingredients to do four more meals of this quality.
My thoughts were broken by the sound of a bell and my eyes focused from my food to the little bell floating in front of me. It was staring at me, floating there. It had little legs and arms, and two red and white tassels. “Hello, Chingling,” I said with a bit of a smile.
It made noises at me. Again, though they weren’t words, I could understand what it was saying. It was demanding that I give it food.
I arched an eyebrow at it. It wasn’t asking, it was demanding. “Are you going to ask nicely?” I asked as I put my food to the side.
That seemed to incense it, and it let out a rather loud cry. I saw how everyone else flinched at the noise, and it even hurt me.
“Alright. Stop. If you want something, you have to ask nicely, otherwise-”
It interrupted me with another cry, this one louder and even more painful.
“Enough!” I shouted at it. Which seemed to cause it to hesitate. I could see Cara getting up, clearly having had enough of the little bell. I rubbed a bit at my head, having a headache now. “Do you not understand the situation you’re in? There are five Pokemon here, and you-”
Again I was interrupted as it suddenly slammed into my chest, knocking me over. It loudly claimed that since I was the weakest one here, I should give it my food since it was stronger.
I blinked a few times. Despite knocking me down, it hadn’t hurt. Standing up, listening to it gloat, I grabbed hold of the rope it used as tassels, which immediately caused it to stop talking. I began to swing it around and around and around and around as hard and as fast as I could. I did this for a good few moments before letting it go, watching as it shot into the distance, and pinged off of a rock before disappearing out of sight. “What a little jerk,” I said before sitting back down and grabbing my food.
Dee came over to take a look and see if I was injured. Clearly she was concerned since any sort of head injury, even a minor bump from falling over, could aggravate my concussion and make it worse. She was relieved to see that it apparently hadn’t hit me that hard and had more just pushed me over. Still she used Heal Pulse, just in case.
“Thank you, Dee,” I said, trying to get her to stop fussing over me and go back to finish her meal. She seemed very reluctant to do so, but I just started rubbing the top of her head until she eventually did.
Cara glared at the place the Chingling went, watching to see if it would come back. But it didn’t. The trio also made vague threats in that direction, Rio quite vocal about how rude the bell had been.
Once we had cleaned up, I made sure that the fire was out before turning my attention back to the cave. “So, who wants to explore the cave?” I said with a smile. Though it slowly became a frown as all of them looked hesitant. Veny and Popplio immediately returned to their pokeballs. I sighed. “Fine, everyone can go back to their pokeballs.”
And all of them did. I rolled my eyes as I began to walk towards the cave entrance. I wasn’t sure why they were so afraid of the cave, as it looked beautiful even from just what I could see.
The walls were covered in chunks of crystals, entire walls were made from the stuff. It looked a lot like a highly reflective quartz, but I wasn’t a geologist. The floor was rough and uneven, obviously this wasn’t really the official path through the mountain. I would have probably had to go from the town, and there would have been a road, but I wanted to explore.
I did my best to be quiet, just taking in the sight of infinite reflections and the way the light bounced around the cave. I passed under a group of Woobat, taking a moment to look at the little fluff balls of bat. Better than the aggressive Zubat, though I had to admit I had a special place for those flying buggers. A Zubat was my first shiny Pokemon in the games, and I had raised it all the way to a Crobat.
Lost in my thoughts for a moment, I nearly tripped over a Roggenrola, who eyed me with a bit of annoyance. I bowed my head a bit. “Sorry,” I said softly. I quickly realized that there were quite a lot of them, all looking at me. Well, not looking at me, but listening to me since the thing on the middle of their head is an ear not an eye.
They all listened for a moment before they continued on their little journey. I realized they were going into a small hole in the wall. I waited for them to all leave before I continued down the tunnel. There were a lot of holes, offshoots, and crevices leading off from this larger tunnel, but I couldn’t fit through any of them. At least it should be easy to retrace my steps to find the exit.
The tunnel was twisty and seemed to go in a downward direction. However, it eventually came to a dead end. Or at least a dead end for me. I crouched down, looking into the two foot wide hole at the end. It looked like it went on for a while, but eventually it turned and I couldn’t see further down it even with the reflective nature of all the crystals. What was really concerning though is I could see through the floor I was standing on, and it was quite thin.
As I slowly stood up and turned around I was met with an interesting and concerning sight. Squeezing out of one of the nearby holes that I had passed was a tall, cyan colored Pokemon with a scrunched up face and rather jagged mouth. “Oh, hey Wobbuffet.”
It stood up in a strange way, though I was more curious as to how it had come out of such a small hole. Me talking seemed to cause it to realize that I was there and it looked over at me. There was a moment of silence as we sort of looked at each other.
I knew that Wobbuffet was a rather docile Pokemon, so it was probably waiting to see if I would attack it. “Do you want a berry?” I asked as I reached into my bag. I had several berries that weren’t liked by the Pokemon in my group.
That seemed to get its attention and it wobbled over to me as I pulled out a rawst berry. Hopefully this Wobbuffet liked bitter. As I held out the berry and it approached there was a sudden cracking sound. I blinked and looked down to see if that was the source.
Much to my dismay, it was indeed the ground below me. Both I and the Wobbuffet looked down at the ground, and then at each other. It slowly reached out towards me, but rather than try and help, it took the berry and took a few wobbly steps away. “Oh, I see how it is.” I pointed at them. “I’ll remember this.”
And then the floor gave out.
Chapter 5
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Riolu - Daughter of Cara
Veni - Venipede - Adopted daughter of Cara
Popplio - Popplio - Rescued from aquarium
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Chapter Text
The trip down was not very gentle, but not as rough as I thought it would be. It was like going down a rough slide. The twists and turns were the hard part, as I was constantly being slammed into walls and jostled back and forth. Eventually it spit me out a few feet above the ground, not landing on my feet but not beefing my face into the ground.
It took me a moment to get my bearings of which way was up as my head was spinning. I reached for my belt to grab Dee and have her check me over only to find the clip gone. Blinking and looking around, this part of the cave was darker but I could still see a bit from the small amount of light being fractalled in. I still had my bag, but it seems the pokeball belt clip wasn’t as sturdy.
Thankfully in my supplies I had a flashlight, which I fumbled a bit to retrieve. My hands were a bit shaky from the sudden tunnel slide. Flicking it on and looking around with it, I was in a small little room with two other tunnel offshoots. But I didn’t see the clip anywhere. It must have gone down one of the other little tunnels. “I really hope it’s not stuck somewhere…”
I did know that all of my Pokemon could release themselves, so I was sure wherever they were they were already probably trying to find me. The possible worst case scenarios were running through my head. I had food and water, but they didn’t. If they stayed in the pokeballs they wouldn’t get hungry for a long time, but what if the ball broke? What if they’re stuck somewhere?
Several minutes were spent crawling around on the floor looking around the small room and just trying to calm myself down, taking deep breaths and convincing myself things would be okay. My body was sore from my trip down, so I pulled out an oran berry and began to eat it while I thought. Thankfully oran berries worked on humans and tasted good.
I quickly checked my phone, but of course I had no service. Which would honestly be really embarrassing because I don’t know the emergency number, and would have had to call Ranch Joy and tell her what happened. I was already feeling dumb for coming here without preparing more, and having to explain my stupid decision would’ve just made me feel worse.
The question now was, what do I do? There were two directions I could go, as I could not go back up the way I came. Neither looked that different from the other. My best plan would be to try and find a rock Pokemon to help me find my pokeball clip, but if I ran into a Pokemon that was hostile I would be screwed.
Although the only really aggressive thing I could think of in the cave would be a Sableye. But that would only be if it followed game logic. For all I knew I could find a Mr. Mime that would try and kill me. The encounter with that Chingling was a good reminder that not all Pokemon are nice or friendly.
Sighing, I stood up and dusted myself off. My coat had held up quite well, and I was really glad I had bought it otherwise my arms would have probably been cut up during my tumble. Looking down both passageways I decided to go to the right, as it was more lit up and I could save the power of my flashlight.
After putting it away I started to walk slowly and quietly. I was trying to listen in case I heard any Pokemon. This tunnel was much larger than the one I had been in above, and actually showed some signs of excavation. Although I couldn’t tell if it was from Pokemon or people. Especially because either way it would be Pokemon doing the digging.
A little noise caused me to pause and I looked over to be met with bright blue eyes. There was an immediate moment of panic as I thought I had come across a Sableye, however as I saw the large rock that made up this Pokemon, the blue crystals, and the white fluff I realized that this was a Carbink.
I blinked at it as it stared at me, shaking slightly. “Ah-” I took a step back, putting my hands up. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”
It simply stared at me, but seemed to calm down.
After a moment I slowly sat down, putting my hands on my lap so that it could see that they were empty. “My name’s Jason. You can call me Jace. I fell down a hole. I’m… lost, and I’ve lost my Pokemon.”
It took a moment before there was a response. “Hello…” it said softly. It’s voice was quite clear despite being so quiet, with a sort of ringing tone to it.
“Do you want a berry?” I said softly as I pulled out another oran berry from my bag. It was extremely curious how all Pokemon are capable of eating berries, even when they don’t have mouths.
Its eyes looked at the berry for a moment before it floated over. I held the berry out at arms length so it didn’t have to get any closer to me than necessary. It moved close and pulled my hand and berry into its fluff. It was amazingly soft. When it pulled away, the berry was gone, and it suddenly gave off an air of pleasure.
That had probably been the first berry it had ever had. I watched how they ate it curiously. It had just been…absorbed by the fluff and slowly disappeared. They did a little twirl, moving closer to me. “Good!” they exclaimed, bobbing around me as they celebrated.
“I’m glad you liked it,” I said with a chuckle. Maybe unfriendly Pokemon were the outlier?
“Come!” it suddenly called, and began to bob further down the tunnel.
Curious, I stood up and followed. The tunnels began to branch out to a rather surprising level. There were lefts and rights and straights, ups and downs. I would have gotten extremely lost, but thankfully I had a guide. Hopefully they knew where they were going.
After a few minutes, I was led into a larger room. The floor was almost completely made of the mirrored crystal, and slowly dipped into a rather large basin full of water. There were several more Carbink in here, of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Hopefully they didn’t want me to feed all of them… I didn’t have that many berries.
The one I had followed made noises at the others like crystalline windchimes. They were excitedly explaining how they found me, and that I was nice and gave them something delicious. Many of them were floating near me, looking at me curiously. Without thinking I reached out and rubbed the crystal on the top of one’s head. It made a pleased noise, doing a little twirl.
Rock Pokemon were fascinating. They were made from living stone, capable of feeling, and growing. But they felt just like I would have expected a gem to feel. Many more came up to me, now even more curious. I gave out little head pets to those that got close enough, which they seemed to like.
“Human.” I was startled a bit at the sudden word from behind me and turned to see a larger crystal and stone Pokemon, this one made from pink diamonds and wearing what looked like a white dress.
I stared for a moment, trying to process what I was seeing. “Diancie?” I questioned, not quite believing that I was seeing a mythic class Pokemon.
“What are you doing here?” Its red eyes stared at me, as if trying to see through me.
“I got lost. My name is Jason, but I prefer being called Jace. I fell down a hole and lost my Pokemon. I was trying to find someone to help when I came across that little one,” I pointed to the Carbink that I had followed, “And they led me here.”
It had a look of disappointment on its face but eventually sighed. “Why did you come to the caves?”
My brow scrunched up a bit as I looked at them. “Cus they’re pretty?” I said, confused at its question.
This time it was their turn to look confused. “That’s it?”
“Yeah?” I gestured around, trying not to bump any floating Carbinks. “Just look at this place. It’s beautiful.”
“Most do not come here for that. They come to capture, or harvest.” It floated towards me as it spoke.
“Well, I didn’t. I don’t even have-” I stopped, my brow furrowing. “Okay, well, I think I have one pokeball?” I had to check my bag, finding the last ball that Professor Sycamore had given me. “Yeah, one pokeball.”
There was this look on her face like it thought I was an idiot. “You are lost?”
“Yes.” I explained to them the events that led me here. While I did so the Carbink were constantly bumping into me, wanting more pets, which I happily obliged. Petting their crystal was like rubbing warm glass.
“Berries?” Seemed to be its only question.
Glancing around for a moment, I pulled out a persim and held it out to it. It had come quite close as I talked. I watched as it hesitantly took a bite, immediately its eyes lit up as they stared at the berry. “Do you like it?”
They didn’t answer, but took it from my hand and began chomping down on the berry with gusto.
I chuckled a bit, and saw the look of those around. I hesitated. I didn’t have infinite berries… and there were at least twelve Carbink here. After a moment I pulled my last persim out, and then began to cut it up. I gave each Carbink a piece, aside from the one I had given a whole berry earlier. Berries were large, so it was easy to cut one up into enough pieces.
They all seemed to love it. They made lots of different noises of celebration. Treats were truly the way to win over Pokemon. Maybe I could get a whole bunch of poke beans to use as treats for wild Pokemon? While berries were a hit, if a Pokemon didn’t like the flavor it would be a waste. Another reason to go to Alola.
“We shall help,” Diancie said suddenly, having finished the berry.
“Oh! Thank you. I would really appreciate it… They’re all my friends, my family, and I’m really worried that something bad might happen.” It nodded and we all started to make our way back to where I had fallen, with Carbink leading the way back to where they found me. Once we were back, I pointed up at the hole. “I fell through there. I think they might have fallen down a different path…”
Almost all of the Carbink suddenly went up and into the hole. I watched them, concerned but hopeful that they should be able to find them. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Diancie watching me. I sat down, knowing that it was probably going to take a while. “You knew what I am,” Diancie suddenly said.
I blinked and looked over at them. “Yes. You’re a Diancie, a mythic class rock fairy type Pokemon. Some people argue that you’re one of the most beautiful Pokemon in the world.”
It turned away, making a sound like it was clearing its throat. “Not many know of me. Whenever most humans see me, they are shocked and wonder what I am.”
“Well, you’re a rare Pokemon that’s usually only ever found underground, it’s no surprise that many don’t know you.” Even though there was a movie about a Diancie, they were still a rather forgotten Pokemon.
Several minutes passed before Diancie once again broke the silence, “You Trainers confuse me.”
“Trainers are a strange bunch,” I agreed.
“You travel and battle Pokemon, capture them and bring them with you and make them battle. For what purpose?” It was staring at me, again like it was trying to see through me.
“Well, it’s different for everyone.” I turned a bit so that I was facing them more. “Some just want to be powerful. Some just want to see the world. Some have something they feel they need to prove, or because it’s what is expected of them. Some see Pokemon as friends, others just see them as tools. It’s hard to really pin down why a Trainer is a Trainer without asking them.”
“And why are you a Trainer?”
I shrugged. “I’m technically not a Trainer. Sure, I have Pokemon, but those are my family. If the laws didn’t say that I had to have them in pokeballs, I wouldn’t put them in one. But if you want to know why I’m doing what I’m doing…” I had to pause to collect my thoughts. I knew the answer, but not quite how to describe it. “I want… to see the world and make friends, and help Pokemon along the way.”
“Help Pokemon?” It questioned, their eyes unblinking.
“Yeah. I’m helping Dee to deal with her trauma. Helping Cara to get revenge and move on. Rio and Veny want to get strong. And Popplio needs someone to take care of her.” Everyone in my group had a reason for being there, even if in the end it was because everyone wanted to be stronger in different ways and for different reasons.
Again we fell into silence. This silence lasted for a few hours before suddenly one of the Carbink came rushing in from the other tunnel. And behind them I saw Cara and Dee. I barely had a chance to stand up before Cara nearly took me straight off my feet as she hit me with extreme speed, her arms wrapping around me tightly. Thankfully she was careful of the spike.
Dee came jogging over quickly after her, carrying the broken belt clip that still had the five pokeballs on it. “Are you okay?” She asked rapidly and began to check me over.
“A bit bruised, but otherwise I’m fine I think.”
“I was going to come out to help when you fell, but then the clip came loose and we went down a different tunnel,” Dee explained, holding out the clip to me.
I took the clip and examined it; the part that kept it connected to my belt had snapped. “I’m just glad you’re all alright…” I said as I started to pet Cara. She wasn’t saying anything, simply holding me and pressing her face against my chest.
“Rio, Veny, and Popplio were freaking out so we got them to go back in their pokeballs.”
I nodded a bit as I released the other three, wanting to make sure they were okay. All three of them came over, hugging onto my legs. I chuckled a bit. “That was scary, huh?”
All three were crying, or complaining, or a mixture of both. Popplio was crying and complaining, saying it was dark, and they didn’t like it here, and it was scary, and they wanted to go back to the Pokecenter. Rio was annoyed that they made her go back in the pokeball and she wanted to help look for me. Veny was just crying a bit and saying how much they were glad I was okay and that they didn’t like that we got separated.
Cara let go and I knelt down to pet and comfort them. It felt pretty good that we had all gotten so close in a relatively short amount of time. “I’m glad you’re all alright.” I wasn’t sure how to explain how much it had scared me when I realized they weren’t with me. Standing back up, I looked over at Diancie and smiled. “Thank you for your help.”
There was a bit of a pause as it looked at me and nodded. “You’re welcome.”
I had to pick up Popplio to try and get her to stop crying. This was probably really traumatic for her considering her abandonment issues. So I just held her, rubbing her back. The Carbink were coming back slowly, talking to each other and my friends. There were quite a lot of animated conversations.
While I couldn’t follow the several conversations, there seemed to be a lot of discussion of what was outside. Most of the Carbink made the outside sound like a horrible place, but a few of them made it sound fantastical. They asked questions about trees, clouds, grass, and that sort of thing.
It was all rather humorous.
I noticed that Diancie was talking with Cara and Dee. It looked like they were getting along, which was cool. After thinking about it for a moment, I took out my camera, taking a few pictures of Diancie. They were a really pretty Pokemon and I wanted to have some proof that I actually got to see a mythical level Pokemon.
After a few minutes of calming Popplio down, Diancie came over to me. “May I… Request your help?”
I blinked, turning my attention to her. “Of course. I can do my best.”
They looked a bit frustrated, or perhaps worried. “One of my followers… wishes to go with you.”
Again I blinked and looked around a moment before noticing that the first Carbink that I had come across was floating over. “Ah, this one?” Apparently they really liked that berry.
“Yes. But I am… I am concerned that they will be put into danger, and so I wish to ask for your help.” She looked at me, then at the Carbink, and then back at me.
“Well of course. I’d be happy to look after them,” I said with a smile. Carbink was a pretty cute little rock Pokemon. Its ears and fluff always reminded me of a bunny. With its really high defense, it would make a good tank. Plus they shoot lasers.
There was that look again as they seemed to look through me. I wondered if it could see my aura and that’s what it was looking at. After a moment, they nodded. “Alright.” They gestured for the Carbink to approach. “I will entrust this one to you.”
I smiled as I reached out and rubbed the head of the Carbink. “Welcome to the family,” I said softly. They made some happy sounding noises in response, but didn’t actually use words. I fished out the pokeball that I had, and held it out to Carbink.
They eyed it curiously. I noticed how the room had become a lot quieter as everyone's attention turned to watch. After a moment they touched the ball and were immediately enveloped in red light. It wobbled once before letting out the bong noise.
Immediately I released them, smiling. The trio cheered, rushing over to greet the newest member. They excitedly introduced themselves, and gave their self given titles. Even Popplio jumped from my arms to excitedly declare herself as the performer.
“You take good care of your Pokemon,” Diancie said. “As thanks for taking that little one, I would like to give you something. Come.” They turned and began to float down the well lit tunnel.
I hesitated before following. Everyone else followed as well, chattering and welcoming our new member. I was really glad that they were so welcoming. I began to think of what sort of training methods to use for Carbink, but my thoughts were soon interrupted by Diancie.
“This is not something that is normally done,” it said as we entered the large pool room. There were gasps from the other Pokemon and I took some photos of Diancie in the room. Maybe I could become a Pokemon photographer? “But I want to make sure that they are safe,” it continued.
I followed them as they led us down another passageway. The light dimed before opening up into a massive room. Crystal structures hang from the ceiling, but the most stunning thing was the massive pink diamond in the center, emitting a bright glow. “The Heart Diamond…” I muttered, staring at the diamond that was bigger than a building.
“You know what this is?” Diancie said, I could hear the slight worry in its voice.
“Only in stories,” I responded, looking around at the massive crystalline structure that made up the room. I had fallen into the Diamond Domain? That sort of explained how the only Pokemon that I had seen were Carbink and Diancie. This Heart Diamond didn’t look like it was dying of old age like in the movie, so I wondered why they brought me here.
That explanation seemed good enough for them as they floated towards the diamond, but rather than going up to it they went down below. It picked something up before coming back towards me. “There is something that is not usually done at this time… But since they are leaving, it is fine.” It really sounded like they were more trying to convince themselves than me. They put out their small hand, offering for me to take something.
Slowly I put my hand out, and it gently placed a small object in my palm. It was round, and pink, with a swirl in it similar to a cat's eye marble. My brain sort of fizzled, as I knew exactly what this was. “Diancite.”
Diancie nodded. “Only one Diancie may live in the Diamond Domain, but as they are leaving, I will make an exception.” They closed my hand around the small marble. “When you leave these caves…give this to Carbink, and they will evolve.”
I swallowed, holding the little marble tightly. This was far beyond what I had thought was going to happen. This was a series of events harder to imagine as they came. “Alright. Thank you.”
“Make sure that you keep them safe,” it said earnestly, their eyes locked to mine.
A smile crept onto my face. “I will do my best.”
It looked at me for another moment before nodding. “They may come back to visit, but they cannot stay here while I live,” they explained, looking over at the Carbink. “Only one Diancie may live within the Diamond Domain,” they repeated their earlier words. I noticed that they had the habit of repeating themself.
I thanked them again, taking a few pictures of the Diamond Heart as we left. This was truly an amazing sight, and I had no idea if or when I would ever be able to see it again so I wanted to have proof of these memories.
They began to lead us out of the caves, which took hours. Wild Pokemon avoided our group, and for good reason considering we were being led by Diancie. Eventually we entered a larger corridor, and Diancie gestured at one path that would take us out. “That is the exit,” they said softly.
I nodded, looking back and smiling. “Thank you, for everything. Who knows how long I would have been lost without you.”
It just nodded and turned away. All of the Carbink said goodbye to the one that was coming with me. They rubbed their fluff against each other, an action to serve as both a sign of affection and to polish their gems. It was quite a sight and I decided to take pictures. I needed to remember that I had this camera app and could just take pictures of stuff.
As we parted ways, we made our way towards the exit. It was later in the day, but the sun was still shining. And we were actually on a road. This was the official path through Reflection Cave. But I had no idea what side of the mountain we were on. Since the sun was setting and to my left, I had to assume we were on the north side, which meant that the city off in the distance was Shalour.
I looked over at Carbink, who looked back at me with a bit of excitement. “Ready?” I asked as I held out the Diancite to them.
They quickly moved to me, nodding. They pulled the Diancite into their fluff. After a few seconds they suddenly shone brightly. It hurt to look at the dazzling pink light, but I did my best to watch as their form shifted and they changed shape. I could see the Diancite shine the brightest within them, like a little pink sun. I imagined that this must be similar to how it looks when using an evolution stone.
After a moment in front of us stood a Diancie. They looked at their hands for a moment, doing a few twirls before exclaiming excitedly, “I’m so pretty!”
I chuckled a bit and nodded. “Yes, you are.”
They moved over to me, and placed the Diancite into my hand. I blinked, surprised that it had survived the transformation. “Oh. This will be useful. But,” I held it out to Diancie. “You hold onto it. It’s your source of power.”
“Source of power…” they muttered softly as they took back the little marble. They took a moment to tuck the object into their collar, wedging it in what would have probably been a very painful way if they had not been made of stone. When they were done, I couldn’t see where the marble even was. I reached out, rubbing the top of their head which caused them to giggle.
With the events of the day leaving all my Pokemon tired, I had them return to their pokeballs; it was better to avoid any attention for the time being. I would need to hide Diancie for now. It was actually only an hour of walking to get to the city. I thought about stopping at the pokecenter, but I realized that that might raise a lot of questions as to how I left Geosenge and then appeared in Shalour a few days later when I was supposed to be in League City.
So I made my way to the train instead, and got onto a train heading to League City. Again it was empty, as no one was going to the city this late, they were leaving if they were getting on a train. Unfortunately, due to how the train snaked its way around, it was almost midnight by the time I arrived.
Sitting on a train for that long left my legs a bit wobbly, but the walk would help that. The city was still bustling, excitement from the tournament still having everyone in good spirits. I passed by a rather young boy crying, being comforted by their family. It looked like they had been knocked out today. But it was impressive they made it so far.
Entering the hotel and going back to my room, I immediately ordered a ton of late night food for everyone before even releasing them from their pokeballs. The room was more than large enough for everyone, and Diancie was absolutely mesmerized by everything in the room.
Veny immediately went for the remote, turning on the television to show it to Diancie. Their mind was blown. Veny seemed to be the one who liked watching television the most. I was going to have to make sure she didn’t turn into a big lazy bug.
The food arrived rather quickly, and I did my best to not let them see the group of Pokemon. There was a ton of food, but then again it was to feed seven individuals, most of which had large appetites. I was going to have to re-math my food budget. All of the Pokemon chattered away happily to each other, but there were too many conversations going on for me to follow.
After dinner I washed up, taking a nice long shower. Popplio joined me, enjoying the water. Diancie was just curious as to what I was doing, which made it a bit awkward because she just silently stared. As soon as I was done I dried off Popplio, letting her go and join the rest as I dried my hair. At least there was a hair dryer here, so I didn’t have to air dry.
When I went to lay down I was a bit surprised to find everyone had already piled up on the bed, leaving an obvious gap for where I was supposed to go. Even Diancie had sort of laid down on the bed on Cara’s side. Dee had laid herself at the top of the bed, placing herself where all the pillows were.
I looked at the position of everyone a moment, everyone sort of waiting for me to take my place. Chuckling, I laid down, resting my head a bit against Dee since she apparently wanted to be a pillow. Popplio and Rio took their place, and Veny put herself against my side, right in the perfect position to be pet. Cara took her face down position on my shoulder. As I was starting to drift off to sleep I felt Diancie place her hand on top of mine and I shifted it in order to hold her hand. Pokemon really liked to be close when they slept.
In the morning, while everyone was eating breakfast, I planned to call Professor Sycamore. So I got everyone sorted, and settled down. The trio had really come to form a pretty good bond with the newest members, which was comforting. Dee and Diancie were being treated as if they’d always been here. I mentally noted how it had been the same with Popplio.
Once I was done eating, I pulled out my phone and called the Professor. “Good morning Jason, what can I do for you.”
“Good morning Professor. I… hm… Would it be possible to have you come to watch the League today? I want to discuss some things with you. In person.” I needed to discuss Diancie with him as soon as possible.
He gave me a questioning look. “Alright… Is this about something that happened at the Joy Ranch?”
I made a wobbling gesture with my hand. “Sort of? Not really? I don’t even really know how best to explain it without just showing it to you. But I want to show you in person.” I wanted to judge his reaction in person.
That just seemed to confuse him even more. “Alright? Well, I can start heading there now. Shouldn’t take too long.”
“Thanks Professor. I’ll meet you in the private booth.” We both said our goodbyes and hung up. I gathered everyone up in their pokeballs before heading out.
Much to my surprise, the Professor was already there by the time I got there. “Ah, there you are. I was already in the building, so it was a short walk,” he said with a chuckle. “Nice coat.”
I rolled my eyes a bit and looked around. No one was here this early aside from the bartender, as that was how it normally was the last few days I was here. Most of the rich people who used this booth didn’t show up until two or three in the afternoon for the free alcohol. “Well, that makes this quicker.”
Then I called out five of my Pokemon, leaving the one that I had concerns about in the ball for a moment. “Ah, an Audino. Glad you managed to convince the Joy Clan.”
“Yes, this is Dee-”
He interrupted me, “Well done. The Joy Clan is extremely particular about where they send their nurse Pokemon, and who they give them to.” He was taking a closer look at Dee, who was a bit puzzled at his attention, but recognized that he was a Professor and so was allowing him to examine her.
“Right, I’m really happy about that too, but she’s not-”
Again he interrupted me. “Although, that’s not really that big of a deal? You could have just shown her to me on the phone.”
I sighed. “Professor,” I said a bit more firm in my tone which caused him to look over at me. “She is not what I am concerned about.” I held the pokeball of the sixth member of my team in my hand.
“Ah. Right, sorry.” He cleared his throat and straightened up. “So, what are you so worried about?”
After taking a deep breath, I shook my head. What a reliable but unreliable professor. Are they all like this? How bothersome. “Come on out,” I said and a second later Diancie burst forth, blinking and looking around at the new environment that she was now in. However upon seeing the familiar group of Pokemon she happily made her way over to them.
Professor Sycamore looked like he was about to pass out. His mouth fell open like he was about to say something before he realized what he was seeing. I was fairly sure he wasn’t breathing anymore. He had the look of a man that had just met God, and they told him that they were disappointed in his life choices.
“Yeah, so…” I cleared my throat, trying to get his attention. “So this is Diancie.” Upon hearing their name, they turned and floated over to me curiously. I couldn’t help but smile. “It is the newest member of my family.”
“How?” Was all he managed to say, struggling to even breath as he gazed upon the mythical Pokemon in front of him.
“Well, it’s a bit of a long story. But, I stumbled upon it on my-”
“Her,” Diancie said.
I blinked, and looked over. “Hm?”
“Rio explained what gender is, and she said I could be any gender. So I want to be a girl,” she said in a happy tone.
“Oh, well alright. So,” I turned back Professor Sycamore. “I stumbled upon her on my way back from the ranch. Quite a lot happened, but I promised not to talk about it too much.” Even if that promise was to myself, it was still a promise. I didn’t want people trying to dig out Reflection Cave looking for the Diamond Domain.
“How… What…” He rubbed his face, taking a deep breath. “Alright. Alright. Okay. This… This is… This is going to complicate a lot of things…” he muttered. “Arceus, what have you been getting up to…”
That was honestly a question I wanted to know, too. “Well, stuff happened?” I reached out a hand towards Diancie, and she happily grasped it. She didn’t quite have fingers, but she did have a thumb, and her hand was surprisingly soft for being made out of rock.
“This- This isn’t the one from Reflection Cave, right?” He asked, glancing between me and Diancie. “That’s where it’s been spotted in the past.”
“Uh… Yes and no?” I said, looking more over at him and making a wobbling motion with my hand, which Diancie watched with interest, mimicking the motion. “She is from there, but not that Diancie. I did meet them, and they entrusted this one to me.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking hard. “You’re aware what you did was extremely reckless, right?”
“I was confident,” I said and he gave me a look. “I am well aware this isn’t a game, and I can be hurt. The concussion I got proves that.”
“It’s more than that.” He shook his head. “I don’t think you really understand just how dangerous things are out there.”
I remained quiet, waiting for him to continue.
“Over seventy percent of Trainers who set out on their journey don’t continue after the first year, and fifty percent of those are forced to quit due to injury, or death.” That immediately explained why the population was so low. “Pokemon outnumber humans a thousand to one, at least. And most of them are mean and vicious, and see humans as nothing more than food. The farther your travel from civilization, the more brutal the Pokemon get. I’m just… shocked you made it back alright.”
“Well, I did have a bit of a problem with a Chingling, but that was dealt with pretty easily.”
I think I gave him a headache judging by the way he pressed his hand to the side of his head. “Okay. Well, it’s not like you’re the first person to do something stupid and obtain a mythic Pokemon, or a legendary Pokemon.”
“There are people with legendaries?” That was surprising, and a bit concerning.
“Well, legendary bloodline anyways. No one, to my knowledge, has a pure blood legendary at the moment. But there are people with their offspring. Like Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltress are the most common legendaries. But there are all sorts. The pure blood legendaries are supposedly immortal and don’t often interfere with anything,” he explained. “The pure bloods are also immensely more powerful than normal ones.”
So this wasn’t as out of the ordinary as I had originally thought. “I’m glad this isn’t as big of a problem as I thought.”
“It’s still… kind of a problem, but not one that can’t be dealt with.” He sighed, shaking his head. “Professor Oak was right…” he muttered.
“Right? About what?” I asked, my eyes narrowing a bit at him.
“Nothing, nothing. You’ll find out,” he said with a bit of a smirk.
I frowned at him. “Alright, well, I just wanted you to be aware of Diancie before I start showing her off.”
He nodded a bit to that. “Yes. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll be able to better field questions from the Association if I know about it ahead of time.”
Diancie’s attention was captured by the beginnings of today’s battles, and she went over to join the others who were watching. Dee seemed really excited to be here, too. “Speaking of the Association.” I gestured out towards the window.
“Ah, yes. About that.” He frowned, obviously annoyed. “They said it’s perfectly fine. They purposefully put strong Trainers against weak ones early on so that those weak Trainers don’t get farther than they should due to sheer luck.”
“So it’s like a free pass,” I said with a bit of a sigh.
“Oh it’s worse than that. Apparently they’re allowing elite Trainers to simply not participate in the prelims.” He was pacing back and forth.
“Elite Trainers?”
He paused, looking over at me. “Ah, you might not be aware. So, there are levels to Trainers. Beginner Trainer, Trainer, Advanced Trainer, and Elite Trainer. It’s a vague way to estimate the skills of a Trainer and is based on what badges they have and what type.”
I thought about it for a moment. “So there are different types of badges?”
He nodded. “There’s the basic badge, and then there’s elite badges, also known as star badges. A beginner Trainer doesn’t have any badges from a main gym, but can have them from smaller gyms. To become an official Trainer you need at least two official badges from one of the gyms approved by the Association. An advanced Trainer has eight official badges, and maybe some of those are elite badges. To reach the level of an elite Trainer you need all eight star badges from a region.”
“That’s a lot more complicated than it was in the games,” I mumbled. But that was good to know. I wondered how difficult getting a normal badge was compared to a star badge.
“Star badges also don’t have a time limit,” he continued. I gave him a questioning look. “A normal badge is only valid for two years. You’d have to go and challenge the gym again if it expires if you wanted to keep participating in the league.” I wondered how that worked, but they probably kept records.
“So the Association is fine with rigging the league,” I said after a while.
He sighed and nodded. “Apparently. They had a lot of excuses.”
I sighed as well. “Typical of governmental entities.”
Again he nodded. “Yeah, the Association has been flexing their power more, even as they lose influence due to more and more powerful Trainers coming up. There have been some…worrying signs that they have been suppressing Trainers who don’t get in line. So…watch your back.”
I nodded. We didn’t talk about much else, just a bit of what happened on the Joy Ranch, before the Professor had to leave.
The battles had apparently ramped up quite a bit in this second week, and were actually interesting. There were enough good Trainers that now the Association couldn’t so easily show favor. The matches were interesting, at a much higher level than anything that I had seen.
~
The next few days passed quickly, and then the prelims were over, and the actual League began. The entire arena was transformed overnight. Now instead of having several smaller battle arenas, there was just one large one that took up most of the field. There was no special type of terrain on this one, and it was just a huge area that looked to be made of compacted clay or something similar. Six raised platforms, two at either end for the Trainers, and the other four placed at different spots for the referees. I got a rather hard pang of nostalgia as I saw the familiar painted lines.
As the battles began and the tournament properly got underway I noticed one thing that really separated the good Trainers from the truly skilled; communication. Those who seemed to have high levels of skills barely ordered their Pokemon, and when they did it wasn’t usually specific moves. It was techniques, battleplans, or vague tactics. Some of the best Trainers that I had seen were just calling out what their opponent was doing, warning their Pokemon of things that they couldn’t see, or what to watch out for with a specific move.
The reason this was the case was pretty clear. The battles were happening too fast. Pokemon were moving so quickly and throwing out such powerful moves that it would be impossible for a Trainer to give a complex order before their opponent had done something. I honestly couldn't keep up with it. Thankfully the screens often displayed slowed down replays so that the audience could understand what happened.
But the best of the best hardly said anything. They were practically silent the entire battle, simply giving basic commands that caused their Pokemon to spring into long complicated strings of moves and techniques. That was really impressive.
Professor Sycamore had come to watch, as he said he was going to. This was when it was supposed to get interesting, and the Elite Trainers would show off. All of the Pokemon enjoyed watching it. All of them except Cara. She just sat beside me, watching the screen. Waiting. I knew what she was waiting for, and tournament went on, all I could do was hope it would happen soon.
And we didn’t have to wait long. It was the third match when a Trainer got up; Andrew. Immediately Cara was on her feet, staring at the screen, her fists clenched. It got worse when he sent out his first Pokemon; a Lucario. Her aura flared, and she was struggling to keep herself in check. Then something truly unexpected happened.
The Lucario Mega Evolved.
Immediately Cara sagged, her aura snuffed out as all the air in her sails was gone. I reached out and grasped her paw. “Mega Evolution,” I explained. I could see Professor Sycamore out of the corner of my eye, his mouth open as if he was about to explain something but I beat him to it.
Cara’s mood worsened as the battle commenced, and the Lucario began to one-sidedly nearly solo the opponents team, taking out four of his six Pokemon before being put down by a Blaziken. The Blaziken managed to bring it back and nearly win, but it ended with Andrew still having two Pokemon he didn’t even use.
“The road is long,” I said softly, squeezing Cara’s paw. “That height is not going to be easy to get to.” She gripped my hand slightly. “After a show like that… it’s going to be even more satisfying watching you knock that bastard off his pedestal.”
Her grip tightened a bit more and she took in a deep breath before nodding.
Andrew’s Lucario was powerful, heavily specializing in the use of aura, which was red. I was going to need to be able to Mega Evolve Cara for that fight. I looked over at Professor Sycamore. “I know what you want,” he said with a sigh. “I can get you a key stone, but getting the Lucarionite would be difficult. I’ve no idea where he even got it. He didn’t have it last year.”
“Who is that guy?”
“Andrew Yellow. An elite Trainer. He got his star badges this year after taking some time in another region. He’s one of the favorites to get to the Elite Four this tournament.” He took a seat next to me. “Do you know him?”
“No, but Cara knows that Lucario,” I said with a glance at Cara, who was still standing, stewing in her frustration at not being strong enough.
“He’s…” his voice trailed off.
“Rio’s father.”
He sighed, shaking his head. After a moment he said, “I’ll see what I can do about sourcing you some Lucarionite, but it might take me seven or eight months.”
“As long as it’s before the next league.” I rubbed the back of Cara’s paw with my thumb. Looking over at Rio, they just looked excited, having watched an amazing battle. They seemed pleased that there was a Lucario that strong.
Reluctantly Cara pulled her hand free and went over to Rio and the others, explaining who that was. I could only imagine how difficult of a conversation that would be. I don’t even know how I would go about that. Yeah, that guy is your dad and he’s a jerk who left us to join that Trainer and beat me up. Whatever she had said, Rio was definitely upset, but the two of them sat together talking for the rest of the day.
I lost interest in the tournament. Instead, I did a few other things. I made a spot inside my coat to store my pokeballs, so that they would be close to my chest and easy to get to, and harder to lose. I started making notes on different training regiments and ideas that I had. I also started to transcribe the pokeblock recipes to a text document so that they would be easier to read and search through. The road was long, and it was going to be hard. The first goal was to become an elite Trainer and get every star badge. That would mean beating the strongest team of all eight gyms. Rio, Veny, and Popplio needed the most work. Especially my little blue seal…
Andrew was knocked out fairly late and took fifth place, which qualified him to challenge the Elite Four. Those were intense fights. He managed to beat Wikstrom and Siebold, but Malva knocked him out. His team had a weakness to fire. A few other competitors managed to beat two but lost to a third. The woman who took first in the League, Laura, beat three members and nearly beat Drasna, but in the end couldn’t do it.
There would be no champion battle this year. I didn’t even know if Diantha was here as she didn’t make an appearance. But watching those fights really showed me the type of gap that was between me and them. This was going to be quite a challenge. It made me excited.
The day after it was all over, I found myself in Professor Sycamore’s car heading towards his lab in Lumiose. “So, what did you think?”
“All the challengers were lacking,” I said bluntly.
He laughed. “What do you mean?”
“They were all too focused. They didn’t have enough for their Pokemon's hard counters. Like how Andrew’s team is made up mostly of steel types. Or the challengers seemed to rely almost completely on type advantage and buckle when that fails.” I looked out the window. “That woman, Laura, seemed to be the only one who knew what she was doing.”
Again he laughed. “Well, then I look forward to your performance.”
We pulled into the large compound outside of Lumiose, which contained the Professor’s laboratory. The place was absolutely huge and I wondered if all Professors worked in such places. It made sense, since obviously Sycamore wouldn’t be the only one doing research.
He led me through the building, exchanging snippets of conversation with other people in lab coats as we walked. There were a lot more people here than I thought, but many of them looked younger than me and were wearing badges that said ‘intern’. I got quite a few curious looks but no one said anything to me.
Eventually we got to his office and he sighed as he took a seat behind the desk. “Take a seat,” he said as he gestured to the seat across from him.
I sat down, getting comfortable. “So, I can be a Trainer now?”
“Yes and no.” He opened a box that had been on his desk and pulled out a rather large looking card that almost looked like a pokedex. “Here.” He held it out to me.
Taking it, it was about the same size as the phone he’d given me, but it was indeed a license. But it wasn’t a Trainer's ID. “Pokemon Expert?” I asked.
He nodded. “Professor Oak recommended that we skip making you a Trainer and move you beyond it.”
I blinked at him. “What’s a Pokemon Expert?” I had heard people call me that a few times now, so it seemed that this was planned well in advance.
He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “You can think of it as a Trainer that’s on the same level as a Pokemon Professor.”
I continued to blink at him. “Okay, but why?”
“Professor Oak suggested it. And after watching you just… show up with a Diancie, I had to agree. With your…otherworldly origins and since you know more about Pokemon than some Professors, we agreed it would be insulting to start you off at the bottom.”
“So I just- I just get to be an expert for that?” It was an interesting prospect, but I felt like there was something he wasn’t telling me.
“Well, kind of. To be a Pokemon Expert you have to be acknowledged by several Professors. When this application was put to the Association, Juniper put her seal of approval on it as well, which pretty much guaranteed it. But of course the Association wanted to reject it.”
“Wait- Why? I don’t think I’ve done anything to get on their bad side. Yet.”
His brow arched a bit, but he answered, “There are only two Pokemon Experts in Kalos, and they belong to the Association. But, and I don’t know how you managed this, but the Joy Clan stepped in to support you.”
I blinked, tilting my head a bit. “Ah- Wha- Wait, why would they do that? And why would that change it?”
He sighed a bit. “Well, they claimed that because you had a nurse Pokemon, you were practically a member of the Joy Clan, since only they can have nurse Pokemon officially. They hold immense power throughout the world, since they have control of most of the world's medical knowledge. As for why? No idea.”
Chuckling softly, I shook my head. “I guess I left a positive impression.”
“Apparently.” He pulled a few pieces of papers and handed them to me. “These are the official documents. The Association will pay you thirty thousand a month, and will give you a bonus for every completed assignment.”
There it was. There was the catch. “Assignments?”
“As a Pokemon Expert, the Association can call upon you to help them. Though I doubt they will, since the minimum bonus is ten thousand. Trainers can also request assistance, but they have to pay you at your own discretion.”
I thought about it for a moment, looking at the papers for a moment. “What if I don’t want to be a Pokemon Expert?”
He sighed. “I’m afraid without proper education, history, and place of residence, you wouldn’t be allowed to have Pokemon.” It sounded like he had been prepared for that question. It did sound like I didn’t have a choice in the matter.
Thinking for a bit I asked, “What if I want to leave the region?”
Now it was his turn to blink at me. “Well, traveling is no problem. You just have to inform the Association that you’re leaving and where you’re going. An Association liaison will be assigned to you whatever region you’re in. Unless you go to a region without Association presence. But… Don’t do that. That’s a good way to get killed.”
“Killed by who?” This whole conversation had mostly been just me asking short questions and his long explanations.
He didn’t answer, clearing his throat. “Anyways. Your Association liaison is waiting for you downstairs, and they’ll want to take you to their headquarters to make things official and…probably test you on things.”
“Well, as long as they pay me, I don’t mind.” As I read more of the paperwork, I found it was similar to a contract. However, I didn’t have to sign it. It was more just informing me that this is how things would be done now, and how I would be treated. The only thing I didn’t like was that I was on-call. I could decline, but I had to give a valid reason. Seeing as how tournaments were a valid reason to decline, it looked like they expected me to participate.
“Honestly, the best part of this deal is you are exempt from the carry limit.”
I looked up at him. “I can have more than six Pokemon?”
He nodded, chuckling softly at the excitement in my tone. “Thought you’d like that part. Since you’re expected to move around a lot and have Pokemon for any situation, and possibly go places where you can’t change out your Pokemon, it’s necessary. However, you will have to declare what Pokemon you're using for battling in tournaments and gym battles.”
I furrowed my brow. “But not for Trainer battles?”
He shook his head. “No, Trainer battles aren’t restricted. But battles through the battle app must still be recorded and logged.”
That explained why the phone had such a good camera. “That makes sense.”
“Most Trainer battles are three versus three, as most don’t have a full six team because that’s expensive.” That explained why a lot of newer Trainers didn’t seem to have full teams during the first week of the league. He reached into the box again, and I wondered just how many things he had shoved in there for this meeting. “Last thing.” Well, that answered that question. He reached over and placed a rather large marble onto the table.
I looked at the colorful marble. “A Key Stone.”
A rather heavy sigh escaped him. “Of course you know what this is…”
“Of course I do.” I reached over, picking up the marble. It was a lot lighter than I thought it would be, as if it was empty. “It’s half of the puzzle for Mega Evolution.” As I turned it in my hand, it reflected light in an interesting way, but the colors were always in the same direction and the symbol always looked the same.
“Do you…know how it works?” the Professor asked. This was his area of study.
“Only theories,” I said, studying the stone. It was pretty. “Some say they came from space, some say they’re something from ancient times. There’s even a theory that they slipped in from another dimension. Some sort of technology designed by people who know a lot more about Pokemon than anyone else.”
“How would that even be possible?”
“Genetic manipulation through energy,” I said simply. “I read in the books that Pokemon use the energies of their types to use moves. And once their capacity for these elements reach a certain point they can evolve. The stone just forcibly increases these energies temporarily by using the strength of the Trainer and as a result the Pokemon evolves.”
“But they revert.”
“It’s possible to revert a Pokemons evolution. The stone's burst of energy is so intense that the backlash causes the Pokemon to devolve.” I paused. “At least, that’s my theory on it.”
“Hm… It does sound similar to theories I and others have come up with…” He fell into silence as he started to think things over. I had no idea how accurate what I said was, but from what I knew from the games and what I had read it seemed like the most logical explanation. Though I had no idea about the stones origins.
After a moment I asked, “So when do I get paid?”
~
As I entered the lobby I immediately knew who my liaison was. There was a very pretty woman wearing a rather tight suit, with a rather short tight skirt. She had long blonde hair that looked professionally done, and her makeup was flawless. She had this extreme corpo vibe that made it uncomfortable to look at her. Like she spent her free time writing reports for fun. Upon seeing me she immediately smiled a smile that did not reach her eyes, and I did my best not to grimace. While some would get excited seeing her, I could only think of one thing; honey trap.
“You must be Jason,” she said with the same rigid smile, extending a hand towards me.
I returned her smile politely, shaking her hand. “Yes. And you’re the Association liaison?”
“Please, call me Emma,” she spoke in a rather sultry tone.
She had an uncomfortable air about her. Immediately I disliked her. “Let’s be off to the Association,” I suggested. It was a good thing the Association didn’t know my tastes, otherwise I might actually be in trouble. Sending a skinny, busty blonde at me? Not going to work.
But I really shouldn’t be so quick to judge. I think I was just on edge and suspicious because of what the Professor said. “Yes, of course,” she said, still smiling. That smile definitely did not reach her eyes. “There’s a car right outside.”
I nodded as I followed her out. It was a small limousine, and we both got into the back. There was a man in a black suit in the driver's seat, wearing dark sunglasses. There was another nearly identical man in the passenger's seat. When I sat down, she sat down across from me. Immediately I looked outside, noting how dark the windows were tinted.
“Shouldn’t be too long of a drive,” she said just as we started to drive.
I nodded, watching out the window. “So what sort of things will the Association be asking me?”
“Oh not much,” she said in a cheerful tone. “There’s just a few tests the Association wants to do to evaluate your level of knowledge. While we acknowledge that you are a Pokemon Expert, we need to know to what degree.”
“Makes sense,” I said, nodding. I was fairly confident that I could answer whatever question that they threw at me.
However, I was annoyed.
The rest of the drive was spent with Emma talking about the Association and what it did. Which was a whole lot of nothing, as they acted as a sort of higher management that managed all of the organizations that were already handling everything. They were the adults telling other adults how to act. My government comment wasn’t far off, as they acted like an overlord government to all the others.
I was so thankful when we finally arrived. I was led into a large government looking office building before being brought to a conference room. There were seven different people in there, now nine including me and my liaison.
“First test,” one of the men said. “Please identify this Pokemon.” He slid a small photograph towards me that showed nothing but a footprint.
“Am I allowed to ask questions?” I asked as I picked up the photo. It had three large claws with a gap between the paw, which was rather long and rounded at the bottom. The mud around it looked wet and spongy, with what looked like moss in it. It wasn’t a very good picture, and the print looked old.
“Of course,” said the man.
“How wide is the stride between footprints?” I asked.
“Unknown.”
“How large is the footprint?”
“Unknown.”
I looked up at them. “What region was the track found?”
“Unknown.”
“Who took the picture?” I said with a frown.
“A Ranger.”
“Can I have the full picture?” I said as I waved the photo in the air.
“What do you mean?” one of the men asked.
“This is clearly zoomed in and cropped. Can I have the un-doctored photograph?”
“No,” said the old man.
“Well, with the provided photo and lack of information, this could belong to dozens of Pokemon,” I said, trying to not get frustrated.
“Is that your conclusion?”
“My conclusion is that whoever provided this photo is clearly incompetent.” That seemed to cause all of them to go quiet, staring at me. “There is no information aside from this doctored photo, which clearly shows a complete lack of any sort of competence in their job.”
“So you don’t know?” the old man said, and I could just barely see the smirk.
“Of course I know.” I tossed the photo at him, and it struck him in the chest. “It’s a Weavile footprint.”
The slight smile was immediately gone. His mouth opened and closed several times before he managed to speak, “How can you be sure?”
“The shape of the print is longer than it is wide, and there are deep divots with the claws. The claws are also too long to be something like a Gabite. Mostly it’s the claws.” I gestured vaguely at the photo. “That’s also not a wild Pokemon.”
“And what makes you think that?” one of the other men said incredulously.
“The mud around those prints comes from a more jungle or marsh type climate, not a cold mountain forest. If it is a wild Weavile, it would be far out of its normal territory.” That seemed to get them to shut up. I had been mostly guessing about that second part, though I was confident that I was right, their reaction confirmed that I had nailed it.
None of them had any words, looking at each other. The liaison looked uncomfortable, as if unsure what she should be doing.
Leaning forward and placing my hands on the table, I looked the old man in the eyes. “Next test.”
One of the other men cleared their throat and I turned my attention to them. “Please identify this Pokemon.” He put a picture on the table.
The picture was of a blur. It looked like it had two green pigtails from its head, a white head, purple pink body, and a white almost bulb shape with two short purple legs sticking out the bottom of it. “Steenee. Next test.”
Another photo was put on the table. “What Pokemon is this?”
There was a large yellow flower, though it was at a far distance. I could see some red as well. “Glossifleur. Next test.”
~
The next few hours consisted of them showing me absolutely horrible quality photos and expecting me to know what Pokemon it was. There were more footprint identifications, all of them in varying horrible quality and cropped badly. I actually surprised myself with how easy it was. I knew I had a lot of Pokemon knowledge, but I was sure that I didn’t know the answer to a lot of these questions. But somehow I just… knew. It’s like I had all the answers in my head.
Eventually they had exhausted all of their photos, and were just standing there. “Well?” I prompted after a few minutes passed without any more photos being presented. I waited a few moments more, looking over each person in the room before nodding. “That’s what I thought.”
I took a step back and headed towards the door. “Where do you think you’re going?” said the old man.
Looking back. “Obviously I’m leaving. Your whole attempt at bullying- or harassing- or hazing- or whatever you want to call it, has failed. Honestly I’m disgusted with how I’ve been treated.”
“Jason, I believe there’s been some sort of misunderstanding,” Emma said, immediately trying to smooth things over.
I rolled my eyes. “I expect to be paid for this absolute waste of time.” With that I walked out, making sure to close the door behind me so that the liaison couldn’t follow. That was the most annoying thing I had to put up with since I got here. So far.
By the time I exited the building and had made my way to the Pokecenter, I got a notification that I had a large deposit. I nearly tripped when I saw the number. They had given me seventy thousand. I also got a followup text, apologizing for how I was treated. Though I didn’t know who sent the text, I guessed it was the liaison. I didn’t respond.
“Good afternoon Nurse Joy,” I said as I approached the counter.
“Hello,” she said with a smile. “How can I help you?”
“I’d like a full checkup on my Pokemon, and a room,” I replied, putting my ID card on the counter as I started putting my pokeballs on the tray. I realized that Popplio was the only one with a special ball, and thought about buying better pokeballs for them.
Nurse Joy hadn’t moved, and I turned my attention back to her, giving her a quizzical look. She was just looking at my ID. “Pokemon Expert?” she questioned.
Ah, right, yeah. Since there were only two of those aside from myself, that was probably a big surprise. “Yes,” I said with a smile.
She seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Would you be willing to help me with something?”
“Of course,” I said without even hesitating. It was thanks to the Joy Clan that I got into such a good position, so it would be really disrespectful to ignore when they asked for help.
Picking up the tray with the pokeballs, she started to head into the back. “Please follow me.” As we walked down the hall, Dee came out of her pokeball, determined to help. “Oh! You have one of our Audino.”
“How can you tell?”
“Oh it’s really easy. She has that studious look,” Joy said with a bit of a giggle.
Dee looked proud. “Of course. I studied a lot.” I just hoped she would be able to handle being in this environment. She took the tray from Joy, happily doing her job as we walked into a back hallway.
We stopped at an observation window. Inside was a sort of hospital room clearly made for medium to smaller Pokemon. On the bed was a little brown canine Pokemon that looked to be suffering from a severe illness. “This Eevee was found by a Ranger near a broken pokeball.”
Was abandoning Pokemon just such a common thing in this world? “Who in their right mind would abandon an Eevee?” I asked softly.
Joy sighed, shaking her head. “We don’t know,” her volume matched my own. “But we assume with how sick she was, they just didn’t want to take care of her.”
“Why not give her to a Pokecenter? Why leave her out there to die?”
“Unfortunately we don’t know,” she replied, shaking her head again. “We tried asking her about her Trainer, if he left her or if she just got lost. But…”
“She didn’t say…” I said with a sigh.
Joy nodded. “She cries a lot and often looks to be searching for something. Seems like she forgets where she is or what’s going on. She hardly makes a sound otherwise. Since waking she has gotten worse and barely eats. It’s a pretty severe disease called Manepox. We’ve no idea where she got it, but she’s well past the contagious stage and it can be cured with care and time. I’ve never seen a case this bad... All we can do is hold and treat her till she’s better…”
“The problem is she’s not making an effort to get better…” I said with a sigh, shaking my head. “I’ll… I’ll see what I can do.”
She nodded to me as she walked off, and I went into the room.
Eevee’s head perked up as the door opened, but immediately fell again when she saw who had entered. “Yeah, I’m probably not who you wanted to see,” I said as I approached the bed, kneeling down beside it.
“Go away,” she said, her voice weak.
“Not happening.” I reached out and gently rubbed her back. She was missing patches of fur, and what fur she did have was oily and thin. The bits of skin showing were dried and cracked, and there were bits of dried blood from where it was really bad. Her body was cold and I could feel every rib and bump of her spine.
“Leave me alone…” She was sniffling, trying not to cry.
“What’s your favorite berry?” I said softly, pulling out an oran berry and holding it out to her.
She didn’t respond this time, looking at the berry with unfocused eyes.
“I like all sorts,” I continued to speak softly. “They make great additions to meals.”
She was just staring at the berry.
“Would you like this berry?”
That seemed to do it, as her eyes welled up with tears and she began crying. “Yes,” she sobbed.
I didn’t say anything for a moment, just gently rubbing at her back as I held the berry for her. She felt so tiny and frail. She was so weak she could hardly bite into the berry, barely even able to get some in her mouth. Much of it fell out as she tried to chew.
“Let me make this easier…” I said softly, pulling out a bottle and straw from my bag. With a bit of effort I squeezed the juice from the berry into the bottle and she drank from the straw. Even drinking from the straw was difficult for her, and a lot of it dribbled from her mouth.
She still had that want to live, but she was just so upset and depressed that doing anything was so difficult that she didn’t bother. I couldn’t help but wonder why people were so cruel? This little thing had obviously loved her Trainer so much, but because she was too much effort they had thrown her away.
She didn’t even finish drinking all of the juice before passing out. I put a little cap on the bottle and put it back into my bag. I knew what I was going to do. There was no chance I was going to leave her here.
Chapter 6
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Riolu - Daughter of Cara
Veni - Venipede - Adopted daughter of Cara
Popplio - Popplio - Rescued from aquarium
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Taken from Pokecenter
Chapter Text
Who knew a berry blender was so damn expensive? At ten thousand pokedollars for a blender, it was no wonder people didn’t make their own pokeblocks. And that wasn’t even accounting for the pokeblock machine itself, which was twenty five thousand. How did anyone afford this stuff? At least the portable solar battery I got was only two thousand. A comfortable pair of boots also cost me a thousand pokedollars, which I felt was way too much but they were sturdy and comfortable.
The person at the pokemart had been quite confused when I showed up with so much stuff, and an absolutely massive amount of food. Food took much longer to spoil in my spacial bag, and since I bought mostly shelf stable goods, it would all last a very long time. The only thing I had to worry about were the berries, but they weren’t that expensive and I planned to turn most of them into pokeblocks.
I also bought a few pokeballs, just in case. And some special vitamin powder mixtures and herbs to add to the pokeblocks. The powders weren’t anywhere near as expensive as actual vitamins, so I had bought a variety. In the end, of the seventy thousand two hundred pokedollars I had, I had five thousand left. I felt like that would give me plenty of food for a long time.
The last thing I did was spend four thousand on training things and care items. Targets, certain types of tape, colored sprays to make markings, durable striking balls, brush and comb kits, and scrub brushes designed for Pokemon with outer rock layers, or shells. The striking balls were made of extremely hard rubber and of varying weights. Some were hollow, some were filled with sand, others were just solid. I had a feeling these were going to come in handy. The most expensive thing I found was a weight harness, which was a device you could put on a Pokemon and then increase their weight with a remote. It was interesting tech that could go up to one hundred pounds of extra weight, and made me think of weighted clothing.
Nurse Joy hadn’t made any protest to me taking the Eevee. Apparently Pokemon Expert held a lot more sway than I thought. I did notice that my ID actually had a little seal with a note, claiming I was endorsed by the Joy Clan. That probably held even more authority than I could imagine. She had given me the medicine that I was to feed her, and a special shampoo that needed to be used every night until it ran out. She had also warned me that it might take up to a year for her to fully recover. From the way she described the disease to me, and what I had seen, it was like a mixture of the worst kind of Mange and Hyperthyroidism.
The last thing that Nurse Joy had done was complain a lot that I didn’t warn her about Diancie. She had been extremely shocked to see her, and Diancie was a bit upset that I wasn’t there until Dee managed to calm her down and explain things. I had honestly forgotten about how much of a surprise that would be when I had seen the Eevee.
Thinking of the Eevee, I reached back, gently touching the little creature that I had put into my hood. I had tucked her in there, as it was the first place I could think of to carry her. Well, technically the second, but she didn’t fit in my pocket. And I wasn’t going to keep her in her new pokeball, which Nurse Joy had given me. The good nurse had said it would take longer for her to get better if she was in the pokeball too much.
As I reached back, she bit me. She had done this every time I reached back if she was awake, though she didn’t do it very hard. It was more her way of trying to interact with me without speaking, as speaking was apparently too exhausting. It was a good way to know if she was awake or asleep. She apparently liked her new spot in my hood. Though it could also be her expressing frustration that I had taken her.
Not that she had a choice in the matter. She hardly had the strength to sit up. I didn’t think a Pokemon could get to such a state. A normal creature would have died, but she was still alive because of just how tough and hardy Pokemon were. It was hard to tell if that was a boon or a curse in a situation like this. A Pokemon would have to go through so much more suffering before they finally died.
After getting lunch, I went to the room in the Pokecenter that Nurse Joy had given me. It was actually a bit nicer than the others I had been in, and had a television. After releasing everyone, I sat on the bed and explained to them in a soft tone, “We have a new member. But she is very sick.”
I pulled out Eevee, who I took care to be extra careful with, and put her on my lap. Everyone was excited to have another in the group, expressing their own welcomes. The new one seemed conflicted, unsure how to act.
“Are you hungry?” I said softly, petting Eevee.
She made a little noise in response. I wasn’t sure if it was confirmation or denial, but I got out the bottle and straw anyways, offering it to her. She drank a bit from it before falling asleep again. I cleaned up the bit that she dribbled before making sure she was in a comfortable spot. Thankfully I didn’t have to worry about feeding my other Pokemon thanks to the Pokecenter.
Apparently as part of the checkup they fed them, which explained where everyone was getting food. Though I had also seen them in the cafeteria. Which was always an interesting sight, but considering most of the servers were also Pokemon, I didn’t think too much of it. That was also another thing that I found interesting in Pokecenters; most of the staff were Pokemon, and there’s apparently one ‘head’ Pokemon that works the front desk and is Nurse Joy’s official assistant.
There’s also multiple Nurse Joy’s in every Pokecenter. That had thrown me for quite a loop when I came across two of them in the hall. They had it split into day shift and night shift, and I just had never run into them during the change. They had laughed at my clear confusion upon seeing two Nurse Joy’s, before they explained how it worked to me.
“Where did you get this one from?” Cara asked, taking a seat beside me and looking down at the little one in my lap. Cara had a very intense motherly personality that I had seen with the others. Any Pokemon that was smaller than her was quickly adopted.
“Her Trainer abandoned her,” I said softly. Popplio’s attention snapped over to me, all the others also turning to take another look at Eevee. “She took it really bad…”
There was a moment of silence as Popplio scooted her way over to my feet, looking up. Cara picked her up and put her in her lap. “Why?” the little seal asked softly.
“She got sick and they didn’t want to take the time to make her better.” I paused as I continued to gently pet the little brown fluff in my lap. “Since he didn’t like her… I took her.”
“Are you just going to…keep collecting abandoned Pokemon?” Cara asked softly, gently patting Popplio.
I chuckled softly. “Probably.”
“You’re gonna have a lot to take care of.”
“That’s fine,” I said with a smile. “If I could, I’d take them all in. Everyone deserves a loving family.” I put the bottle back into my bag after capping it. “Sometimes you just gotta… make it yourself,” I mumbled.
Popplio nudged my leg with her nose and I reached over and rubbed her head.
“Tomorrow we start training,” I said, getting everyone’s attention. I gently moved Eevee to the bed, making sure to wrap her up as I spoke. “I won’t force any of you to fight. I won’t force any of you to train. I will take care of you all no matter your choice.” I sat down on the floor, looking at all the Pokemon around the room. “I can guide you and make you strong, but you have to put in the effort. You have to want to be strong.”
“Team Speed Shell will be the strongest,” Rio said, her chest puffing up a bit. “We won’t lose.” Veny and Popplio seemed to be in agreement.
Diancie seemed unsure, but did nod.
“There’s nothing I want more than strength,” Dee said, standing straight. She had such a determined look on her face that was fairly ruined by how cute she was. But I wasn’t about to crush her determination.
I looked over at Cara. “Don’t look at me, you already know my answer.” She took a deep breath. “The road is long.”
“And rough,” I said as I nodded. “Alright. Rest up tonight, because the next few months are going to be rough.”
~
We all relaxed for the night, as I blended berries and made pokeblocks. The blocks of concentrated nutrition were far more than just things for contests, as they had actual long lasting effects. Ever since I had read in the book that you can increase the strength of Pokemon with pokeblocks, I was determined to make them. With Dee’s help, I was able to make custom pokeblocks for everyone that would best fit their nutrition needs. While curries were good, they needed more. I even made some for myself after confirming they worked for humans, though mine were pretty basic.
A pokeblock would also act as a good meal replacement, as three pokeblocks would keep a Pokemon full for almost an entire day. Although only the first pokeblock would have a large impact; any more would lose effectiveness. From what I had read, three was the maximum before it started to become so little that it wasn’t worth the resources. So the plan was pokeblocks through the day, and curry in the evening to restore their energy.
For Eevee we made a sort of smoothie that she could drink that would help recover her strength, with her medicine mixed in. I had no idea what she wanted to do, but I would do everything I could for her. If she wanted to join the training, she could, if she just wanted to be a lap Pokemon, that would also be fine. And although I didn’t like the option, if she wanted to leave I wouldn’t stop her. I had told her this, but she hadn’t responded.
She did seem to like the bath, the shampoo apparently had some soothing stuff in it and actually made the tips of my fingers a little numb. While Nurse Joy said that the spots didn’t itch, they apparently hurt. The stuff was very strong, and smelled of herbs. The instructions were to just put a large glob on your hand and scrub. Pretty simple. With the size of the container there was probably a few months worth.
The next morning we all traveled off. I followed Cara to where her, Rio, and Veny used to live, as she knew of a large open area near a river that would make a perfect training area. It took most of the day to walk there, and so I had everyone out to walk. The trio also battled any wild Pokemon that we came across, though that was very few.
Eventually we reached the location, and it looked perfect. We set up the camp at the edge of the open field, next to the river. The tent had some protection against wild Pokemon on it, similar to a repel, when it was fully up. Though I wasn’t entirely sure how it worked, as only Cara said that she could sense something about it.
Just before making food, I did a nature check on Diancie. She didn’t have any massively positive or negative reactions, so she probably had one of the neutral natures. Thinking about it for a few moments, the only one that I could think that fit was hardy.
Dee helped me make the curry for everyone. Diancie was absolutely delighted at the taste of the food. It was unlike anything she had ever had and it made her very happy. Eevee was roused by the smell, but she couldn’t have any. She was disappointed, but I promised that I’d make her lots of curry once she got better. Thankfully she really liked the taste of the smoothie so it wasn’t a battle to get her to drink it.
In the morning I gathered everyone around to start explaining things. “Today is the day we start. First off, everyone gets a pokeblock.” Dee and I began to give everyone their pokeblock. With Dee’s help I had made enough pokeblocks for everyone to have three for three months. After that, we would have to reevaluate everyone's nutritional needs.
“Oh these are so good,” Cara mumbled as she savored her pokeblock.
Dee was the only Pokemon here that had ever had a pokeblock, and I was glad that they all enjoyed them. “When do we get more?” Veny asked, a hopeful look in the little bug's eyes.
“You’ll get one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one after dinner.” I watched as Dee sat down and ate her pokeblock, a look of bliss on her face. “The harder you train, the more beneficial the pokeblocks will be. But if Dee or I think you’re going to hurt yourself, you’ll have to take a break.” I didn’t want any of them to go too hard and end up with injuries.
They all agreed, looking forward to the idea of more pokeblocks.
“Now then.” I stood up, looking around the field. “Dee, you need to work on your stamina, so you’re going to be jogging laps up and down the river.” Dee grimaced. “Popplio, you’re also going to be doing laps up and down the river.”
“Alright…” Dee mumbled as she stood up. Her and Popplio headed towards the river.
“Oh it won’t be that bad!” Popplio said excitedly, clearly just looking forward to swimming.
“Cara, Rio, and Veny are going to be doing laps around the field. The key to this is speed, so I want you to do as many laps as you can, as fast as you can.”
Cara scrunched up her face a bit, looking at me a bit confused. “This will be helpful?”
“I want you to use Extreme Speed as much and as long as you can. I want you to be able to sustain it for long periods of time without getting tired. And Rio needs to learn it, so this will help her by following your example.”
Veny and Rio seemed excited. “Yeah! Team Speed Shell!” They immediately took off running, Veny instantly gaining the lead.
Cara sighed and nodded, using extreme speed to catch up and pass them.
I turned to Diancie, who looked rather eager to know what her training was going to be. “We’re going to the center of the field so you can show me all the moves you know.”
“Yes!” she said excitedly, obviously she wanted to show off.
I paid a bit of attention as everyone did their laps, Cara was actually one of the runners to tire out first, since she was trying to maintain Extreme Speed for so long. Veny paced herself a bit better, though she had far fewer laps than Cara. Rio used Quick Attack to try and keep up, but it was far slower than all the others.
Popplio was doing her best to match the pace Dee set, shouting lots of encouragement as she did flips and swam circles. Popplio’s species was adept at moving in the water far more than I had thought, but I was glad to see she was making it difficult for herself by performing tricks. Dee looked like she was in agony. She had lived an extremely sedentary lifestyle, studying and helping Joy. But she also seemed like the most determined to improve.
As that went on, Diancie showed me her moves. As I had done with the others, I recorded Diancie’s moves so that I could watch them later. Diamond Storm had surprised me, as it left actual diamonds scattered about. She explained that it was hard and took a lot of energy, but she could absorb them to recover the energy it took to make them, and once they were made she could keep using them as part of the move. I asked her if I could take one, to have it evaluated to see if it was worth anything, and she readily agreed.
Of all the moves she had, the one that made me the most excited was, “Gravity…” I muttered, “We can do Gravity training…” That had been a staple of the Dragonball series, and others, and it always showed such drastic improvement. If I could do that here, it would be of immense help. “Alright, use Gravity and cover as much of the area around you as you can.”
I immediately regretted not prepping myself as the Gravity suddenly hit me, forcing me to my knees. Breathing was harder, like the very air was heavier and thicker. It was all I could do to keep breathing, not even trying to get up. “Are you okay?” Diancie asked.
“I’ll…be…fine…” I managed to say, moving my mouth and talking was hard. It took a minute before the Gravity finally wore off and the world returned to normal. I gasped for air, nearly collapsing from the force. Slowly I got up, dusting myself off. “Damn, that was effective…”
Diancie did a little spin. “Yes! It’s very strong.”
Looking around I could see a ring of flattened grass, with Diancie at the center. It spread about ten feet in every direction. “A radius of about three meters. That was at least ten times the gravity…” I nodded a bit. “Okay.” I looked over at Diancie. “Again.”
After a few more times, I asked Diancie to try and alter it. Lessen the force, increase the area and duration. After a few more times she managed to get to five meters and it could last several minutes at only five times the force. That was still a lot, but far more manageable. It still took an hour before I was able to stay standing.
“This is what you’re going to be training,” I said, struggling to speak. “You’re going to work on widening the area, and increasing the duration. Once everyone gets used to this, we’ll work on increasing the force.” This was good training for me, too. I needed to be able to withstand her Gravity at full strength so that I could help everyone else. And actually doing Gravity training was like fulfilling a childhood dream.
We kept at it until lunch time, where I called everyone back. It was a few hours of exercise and everyone looked rather tired. Dee looked absolutely exhausted, barely able to drag herself back to the campsite. Popplio also looked a bit tired, but she also looked like she had a lot of fun.
Cara looked extremely contemplative, as if she had realized something during the training. Rio and Veny looked like they had a blast, comparing how many laps they had done and how fast they could do a lap. It wasn’t in a competitive way, but more of a ‘whoa good job’ kind of way.
I checked on Eevee, who I had left at the entrance of the tent so that she could look out and watch. She didn’t say anything to me, but happily drank more smoothie. It was going to take a long time before she started to get better, if she even let herself. From what Nurse Joy had told me, as long as she took her medicine and kept eating regularly she’d recover, but to what that would look like at the end was up to the little Pokemon.
Returning back to the group, I gave everyone another pokeblock, which they happily consumed. “Alright, so next bit of training is going to be different. We’ll take a break now for an hour, and then all head to the center of the field.”
“Is this the same thing you were doing with Diancie?” Cara asked, looking over at the diamond Pokemon.
I nodded. “Yes. It’s going to be rough, but it’ll be the best way to increase your strength.” They all seemed a bit nervous, but Diancie just smiled at them. Which did not help.
After the break, we all made our way into the center of the field. Dee seemed happy that she wouldn’t be jogging anymore, but I knew that they would all gladly go back to running laps once they feel this.
“Alright, Diancie. Gravity.” I had discussed a lot of things with Diancie once I was able to. She raised up her hand and brought it down in an almost lazy way. Everyone hit the floor. I barely managed to stay on my feet, even though I knew it was coming, it was still hard. “Don’t try and get up,” I said, watching as a few of them struggled. “Focus on breathing.”
It was obvious that most of them hadn’t even realized they were holding their breath, but now they stayed mostly still.
“This is five times Gravity,” I explained. “The weight of everything around Diancie has been multiplied five times. That means you weigh five times as much. That means your hand weighs five times as much. Your muscles aren’t used to this kind of strain, and your lungs are under pressure and it makes it harder to breathe. Breathing is the most important thing you can do right now.”
It was ten minutes before it would run out, however Diancie used Gravity again and again just as it was about to end. Cara was the first one to try and get up, not able to do it, but she had at least gotten up to her knees. I had cheated a bit, as I didn’t have the constant pressure when I got used to it, and I was only barely standing.
Diancie just danced and twirled in the Gravity, completely unaffected because this ability was how she was able to float around. It was interesting to think that she was just reversing Gravity on herself enough to float, but many Pokemon did that. For instance Geodude was a Pokemon that had a strange antigravity ability that it lost when it evolved.
After thirty minutes I had Diancie stop to give everyone a break. Again Cara was the first to get up, clearly annoyed that she had so easily been taken down. It wasn’t that Cara was weak, she was one of the strongest here. But Diancie was a mythic level Pokemon, and had a natural headstart on them.
We continued this, thirty minutes on, thirty minutes off, until it was time for dinner.
“That was exhausting…” Cara said, rubbing her arms. She was able to stand now, but it was still a struggle.
“You’ll get used to it,” I said, unfortunately having to do most of the cooking by myself as Dee wasn’t up to helping. I think she was a bit mad at me since I hadn’t warned any of them what was going to happen.
The trio had thought it was cool. “I feel so light now!” Rio said, hopping around. Everyone agreed with that.
Everyone felt better after dinner, especially when they all got another pokeblock. Before going to bed, I gave Eevee another bath, warming up the water from the river to clean her. Again she seemed quite pleased with the bath and being rubbed down, seemingly unbothered by the fact I was doing so in what was essentially a large cooking pot. The other Pokemon and I cleaned ourselves up in the river as well after. This was going to be our life for quite a while.
~
Two weeks passed like this. Everyone was capable of standing up inside the Gravity, which Diancie had managed to increase the area of by a little bit. Using a move over and over again was a good way of getting better at it, as the books had said. Popplio was the one who struggled the most, since her way of moving around was mostly hopping and dragging herself.
I could walk around, and so could Cara. Surprisingly it was Rio that adapted the fastest. She could move better than anyone else, even her mother. Her strength was honestly incredible. Veny also adapted quickly, though I considered it a bit cheating since she had several more legs than everyone and didn’t have that high to get.
Dee had the biggest leap though. She was actually running pretty fast now during her morning laps, and it took a lot to finally tire her out. From watching her I could tell that there was some sort of desperation to catch up, so she was pushing the hardest.
Eevee was starting to show a lot of improvement. She was able to walk around a bit, though she would get tired pretty quick. She had started to warm up to the group, though she still didn’t talk much and usually just gestured, or gave one word responses. I had found her multiple times sleeping very close to our sleep pile, but never touching anyone as if she was afraid to. I was worried that this behavior was the result of abuse.
Once I realized this, I had started shifting her closer so that we were touching. I wanted her to know that it was okay, and that I wasn’t going to get upset at her, but she struggled to overcome that fear. It was something that was just going to take a lot of time, but I was sure that eventually she would feel comfortable around us. She was still on her smoothie diet, unable to manage more solid options. I expected that was also why she didn’t talk much.
The only part of the last few weeks that I was annoyed by was I had been getting quite a few texts from the liaison. None of them were asking for my help, mostly just checking in on me, asking what I was up to and where I was, trying to hype up the Association. From their side, records show me going into a Pokecenter, taking a sick Eevee, and then vanishing. I simply replied with ‘training’ to every message. I had expected followup questions, but they never came. Instead a few hours later I would get a repeat text, as if she had copy-pasted one of her previous messages.
But now that everyone was starting to get used to the Gravity, I wanted to move onto the next step of training. During the lunch break I gathered everyone around. “It’s time for phase two.”
Everyone seemed excited at that. “Oh oh, what’s phase two?” Veny voiced her excitement, wobbling side to side.
I chuckled a bit. “I want everyone to choose what type of defense they want to focus the most on.” They all seemed confused, which I expected. I drew three circles on the ground, which immediately drew Cara’s attention, probably remembering the last time I had done this. “There are three forms of defense. Dodge, block or deflect, and tank.” I gestured to each circle as I spoke.
“Tank?” Dee asked, not sure what the term meant.
“It means to take the damage. To be in front of everyone and simply take a hit; to be so tough that being hit doesn’t hurt.” Everyone seemed to nod a bit. “Tanking should be the last thing on your mind when thinking about defense, though it is a path you can walk, it is painful.”
That seemed enough to dissuade them. Truth was I don’t think anyone but Diancie could be an actual tank in this group.
“The first one is dodge. The principle of it is pretty simple: you can’t be hurt if you can’t be hit.” I looked at Veny and Cara, they were the fastest in the group. “The second is block or deflect. This one is hard, and it means that every attack that comes at you you have either hit it with your own attack and cancel it out or hit it to make the attack miss.”
“I like the sound of that one,” Popplio said with a nod. “Overpower everything that comes at you.”
I nodded. “Exactly. I want you all to think about which type of defense to focus on. You will practice all three methods to some extent, but you need one to prioritize.”
“When are we going to fight more?” Rio asked, clearly wanting to get into more battles.
“It won’t be long now. Once you can comfortably stand in Diancie’s gravity and move around easily, you’ll start practicing moves.” Using moves made you better at them, but it also made you better at using the energy that that move used.
The next day I asked them what sort of defense they wanted to focus on. Rio and Popplio both wanted to use block or deflect, which was obvious. Cara, Veny, and Dee both wanted to focus on dodging. Diancie actually surprised me, saying she wanted to tank. While it was the best thing for her, I wasn’t sure if she was aware of that.
After a few more days, Cara was the first to move into the next phase. I explained to her that she had to use Extreme Speed while under the effects of Gravity. But not just that, she would have to focus her Aura Sphere while doing that, condensing it in her hands and holding it. I put several markers inside the area, and a target on two trees on the opposite side of the field for her to aim at.
I had to tell her several times that it didn’t matter if she hit. She would hit them eventually. She was to gather her energy, use Extreme Speed to hit every single marked spot, and then fire at one of the targets. Then she was to repeat and fire at the other target. There was a specific order to every place that she was to touch, and she had to fire immediately when she reached the final location.
It was a struggle for several days, as she lost control of her aura before she could get to the final spot. When she finally was able to hold it, it had dissipated before even getting near the treeline. But we all celebrated her progress, everyone cheering that she had managed to hold her aura.
Rio was the next one to enter phase two. She demanded that I push her harder, clearly wanting to catch up to her mother. I had agreed, and brought out the striking balls. She was not allowed to dodge, and had to block and deflect them. I’m sure she had thought it was going to be easy, as I couldn’t possibly throw them that hard or fast.
Much to her surprise, it was Diancie who was throwing them, and she could throw them extremely fast and extremely hard. Rio was rather battered after the first few days before she started to manage to start blocking them. I had to remind her that she had moves like Force Palm, and Rock Smash, that she could use to hit them away.
Veny was next, and I set two targets that she was to hit. I had her use a combination of Extreme Speed and Rollout to move around the field, and then hit the target with Poison Tail. She struggled for several days, until to my surprise she evolved. In the middle of training, she had suddenly begun shining with a purplish light and was finally able to succeed in a strike, shouting in celebration.
All training had stopped to celebrate her evolution to Whirlipede. She had also declared that her name would now be Whirly, and she would change it again when she evolved. Training had ended early that day to celebrate. Evolution was an extremely big deal to Pokemon, as it was a big leap in power. When we started the next day, I made her add in Iron Defense before she started Rollout.
Before Veny’s evolution, Popplio had joined Rio in her training. At that point I added in that they could deflect the shots at each other, or at Diancie, and Diancie would just have to take the hit since she wanted to be a tank. I made Popplio use her bubbles and water attacks to deflect, rather than with striking moves.
Dee reached phase two at the end of the third week of training. She had also changed her mind, and didn’t want to do the nonsense she saw Whirly and Cara doing, instead she wanted to tank. I was honestly surprised, as I thought she would want to block, but it made sense because of her high defense and health.
I had her stand near the group, and constantly use heal pulse while also throwing and taking blows. She had asked if there was a way for her to have more weight, so I had strapped the weight harness to her. It was clearly worse than she had thought it would be, but she was determined. There was a crazy amount of determination in this pink Pokemon, and it only took a few days before she was asking for more weight.
By week four, Diancie had managed to double the affected area of her Gravity, which also increased the training area of everyone else. We had shifted from running laps to focusing entirely on Gravity training. Everyone was showing a lot of improvement, much of which must have been from the pokeblocks and curry. Eevee was finally able to start eating the curry with everyone, after I did a quick nature test to see what flavor she liked. She liked spicy and didn’t like sour. A lonely nature.
I also received the thirty thousand pokedollars from the Association, but this also came with another message. Thankfully this wasn’t the liaison harassing me, instead it was actually a request. “There is a problem near Laverre City. Please head there and speak with Valerie.”
I simply replied with a “kay” before turning my attention to my Pokemon. “Everyone!” I called out, halting them before they even managed to really get into training. “Gravity off. We have a mission.”
It took a few minutes for us to pack everything up, and then start to head back to Santalune. The walk took much less time for everyone, and I had them all continue to train as we walked, practicing moves and such. I returned everyone but Eevee as we walked into town, the little brown Pokemon looking much healthier and riding in my hood.
I made my way to the train station and got on the one heading to Laverre. It was a town well out of my way and I had not been there yet. It was well past noon by the time we arrived, and I stepped out of the train station, looking around the city. It was a town covered in leaves.
I immediately started to head towards the gym, looking around as I did. All the trees were large and vibrant, but the biggest tree was the one behind the gym. That tree was supposed to be extremely old, if I remembered correctly.
The gym was closed, which immediately looked odd to me since this was the second month of Trainers' journeys, some would have to put this gym off for later. Of course, it being closed didn’t stop me from walking in. There were very few people inside, but I did spot Officer Jenny and made my way towards her.
“Ah- You can’t be in here,” she said as she started to make her way towards me. I saw how her hand moved back towards her pokeballs.
“Where’s Valerie?” I asked, pulling out my ID and showing it to her. “The Association asked me to come here.”
“The Association?” she questioned as she scrutinized my ID for a moment before her eyes went a bit wide and her posture stiffened. “Pokemon Expert?”
I nodded.
“I…” She stood up a bit straighter. “Valerie isn’t here. We had an incident on route fourteen. A rampaging Hydreigon.”
I frowned a bit. “This is pretty far from their territory.”
“It’s not wild,” the man said, the one who had been talking to Officer Jenny. “It belongs to my son. He evolved it with something he bought here in town, and it went berserk.”
Something that evolved a dragon pseudo-legendary? What the heck could that be? “Where’s your son?”
“He’s…he’s in the hospital.”
“Alright… I need details.” I looked over at Officer Jenny.
“It happened last night,” she explained. “He did it just outside of town, and the Pokemon hurt him pretty bad. The pokeball won’t work anymore. We’re looking into the device he used to evolve his Pokemon, but we have no leads right now. We’ve lost track of it, but it was last seen on route fourteen, and hasn’t been seen since.”
I nodded and turned. “Alright, then I’ll go see what I can do.”
“Ah- wait!” She ran after me. “I’ll call Valerie and let her know you’re on your way. She might have more information.”
Again I nodded as I jogged south out of the town. Immediately I could see where it evolved. A lot of damage, scorch marks everywhere, and some really big footprints. I paused to look, and noticed the marks of high energy moves - most likely Hyper Beam or Dragon Breath, - but that wasn’t what surprised me. Judging by the marks it made, it was two or three times larger than it should be.
Looking around a bit more I could estimate which direction it went and quickly started that way. Cara jumped out beside me, not about to allow me to wander the wilderness alone. “So protective,” I teased.
She huffed at me, but didn’t deny it. “I can feel something…big,” she said.
I nodded. “It is. I don’t know what happened…but to forcibly make a Pokemon like Hydreigon evolve, it had to be something dangerous.” Immediately I thought about Team Flare.
“There’s someone over there,” Cara pointed. “They are injured.”
Immediately we changed direction and made our way over. As we got closer I heard a phone ringing and got a really bad feeling. And my feeling was right as I came across Valerie, unconscious and propped up against a tree. I could see her Mr. Mime and Mawile unconscious nearby, and her battered Sylveon immediately got into a defensive stance when he saw us.
“We’re here to help,” I said before opening my coat a bit. “Dee, we got injured.”
She appeared in a flash of red light and immediately ran over, using Heal Pulse and completely ignoring the angry protest from the Sylveon. “Why should I trust you, huh? Who the heck are you, huh? Don’t you dare underestimate me- ah.” They stopped when they felt the Heal Pulse.
Looking around I quickly found the phone, picking it up. “Officer Jenny, Valerie is hurt,” I said immediately, not giving her a chance to speak.
“Damn it, where are you?”
I looked around. “Not sure. But not too far outside the city.” I knelt down and pulled out Valerie’s pokeballs. “Whose who's?” I asked the Sylveon, who was still glaring at me.
“That one is Mime’s, that one’s Mawile’s,” he said after a moment. Once Dee gave me a thumbs up, I returned the two of them and put them back where Valerie had them.
“Where’s the Hydreigon?” I asked, looking around. There wasn’t any damage to this area, but I could see that there was some a bit away in a clearing. Sylveon had dragged everyone under the cover of trees.
“I don’t know. It came out of nowhere, started blasting, and before I knew it everyone was down,” He was doing a good job at keeping his cool, but I could hear the strain in his voice.
“We’re tracking the phone,” Officer Jenny said suddenly. “Don’t hang up, and we’ll be able to find you.”
“Okay. Be careful, it looks like the Hydreigon is still-” I was cut off by a nearby explosion. Without thinking, I tossed the phone onto Valerie and started running. Cara was already running, but Dee stayed behind to continue treating Valerie.
Coming into the clearing I saw it. A Hydreigon that was twice the size as normal, it was the size of an Alpha. It was fighting a group of Quagsire who were attempting to shoot it down, but it was clear they were losing. However the massive dragon did look like it had taken quite a beating. It was covered in the marks of battle, and I could see froth at the corners of its mouths.
I called everyone out and quickly gave orders. “Diancie, ground it. Whirly, armor up and hit it with all you got. Rio, close combat. Cara, Popplio, hit it from a distance.” Everyone immediately rushed to follow orders.
Much to the Hydreigon’s surprise, it was suddenly forced down and unable to fly. Thankfully, despite being a psychic type move, Gravity was one of those things that ignored type immunities. Just as it realized it couldn't fly anymore, it got hit with an Aura Sphere and Water Gun. I made a mental note that I needed to teach Popplio Moonblast, as I rushed off to the side. I needed to move, otherwise I would be a prime target if it had any intelligence to target the Trainer. There were also a lot of Pokemon fleeing. That group of Quagsire continued to pelt it with Water Guns, though some of them were using Mud Shot.
However, it targeted Cara and Popplio with Dragon Breath. Cara was able to immediately escape, but Popplio stood her ground. “Popplio, move!” I shouted, but she didn’t. I could see her annoyance, as her water wasn’t stopping the flames. But this wasn’t fire energy, it was dragon energy. Her Water Gun was doing little to stop the breath attack, but she just tried harder. More water, more force. More and more. Before it could reach her, there was an even larger surge of water.
She shone bright in a bright blue light, the force of water and amount increasing exponentially as she solidified into Brionne. But it wasn’t enough and she was engulfed into the purple flames. But just as the flames hit, a flying Rio bashed into the side of its head and changed the trajectory, followed by a full speed Whirly that knocked it to the side.
Brionne screamed out in pain, disappearing in the flames. Cara was rushing back over when there was suddenly a burst of water. I nearly tripped over a fleeing Goomy when I saw the ring of water around her and realized that she had just used Aqua Ring. That was an egg move that she had never demonstrated before.
“Brionne!” I called out. Brionne didn’t look to be in very good shape. “That’s not fire, it’s dragon energy! Your water isn’t going to put it out! Cara, help Brionne dodge!” I turned to the group of wild Pokemon. “Oi, Quagsires! It’s weak to ice!”
Unfortunately my shouting got the Hydreigon’s attention. “Shut up!” it roared and batted Rio and Whirly away. Its mouth opened and a bright light shone to show it was charging a Hyper Beam. There was a moment of realization as I saw it was aimed at me and my muscles tensed.
I quickly started to move out of the way when I caught sight of the Goomy, completely frozen in place and staring at its imminent destruction. Changing course I ran at it, scooping it up and dove out of the way in a rather fluid motion. Then the ground behind me exploded, launching me and the Goomy across the field.
It took a moment before I stopped rolling, and Cara was there immediately helping me up. “I’m fine. Focus on the Hydreigon.” I reached back to check on Eevee, who I could feel shaking softly, but she was still here. Looking down at my arm I found I was still holding the Goomy. It wasn’t moving, seemingly stunned. “You’re okay,” I said, and tried to put it down. However it refused to let go. “C’mon, get off.”
I tried for a moment to get it to let go, but it refused. I sighed a bit and just sort of forced it to stick to my shoulder so my arms were free. It clung to my coat like its life depended on it. Turning my attention back to the battle, I just managed to watch as Rio and the Hyrdreigon clashed, attacks colliding and causing sparks of energy. However Rio was flung back.
Whirly was doing her best to strike and use the Rollout Poison Tail combo that she had been practicing, but despite hitting several times she had yet to poison them. However before she had even landed, the dragon sent a devastating hit into her, using his arm to slam into her like a baseball bat. I completely lost sight of her and almost swore I saw a little sparkle appear in the sky where she disappeared. As I was looking over I saw a little pink Pokemon attempting to help, shooting off a beam towards the large dragon. Unfortunately, despite Espurr's best efforts, dark types were immune to psychic. Wait, how was that little thing here?
Before I gave it any more thought I turned my attention back to the battle. I could think about that later. Cara spent a moment to focus an Aura Sphere, but she took too long and the Hydreigon fired another hyper beam at her. She abandoned the energy in order to dodge. I guess she still needed more training on holding that energy as she moved.
Brionne had switched to using Bubble Beam, which she had apparently gotten the hang of while evolving. That wasn’t a bad choice, if she could succeed at lowering the enemies speed it would help everyone.
There was a second clash between Rio and the Hydreigon, with a massive sparking of energy followed by Rio being flung back. I could tell Cara wanted to go help, but also knew that the best way of helping was to actually hit the thing.
“Rio!” I called out as she got up. She stopped, looking over at me. She had this almost betrayed look, like she was expecting me to tell her to stop and back away, like she was already preparing to argue with me. That was probably something Cara had done many times. I couldn’t help but smile. “You got this!” I shouted, giving her a thumbs up.
Cara gave me a look, apparently having also expected me to tell her to back down. But this was something she needed. This kind of wall was the best thing to strengthen herself against. I had a hopeful thought, and I wanted to encourage her. “Yeah… Yeah!” She started to run at them again.
I wanted her to succeed. I wanted her to know that I had faith in her. I wanted to see her get that strength she wanted so desperately. And my gamble paid off. As she ran she ignited in aura, like a small violet fireball, busting into brilliant light.
The shining light drew the attention of the Hydreigon, and it responded with a massive amount of energy in return. It used Outrage. As Rio leapt into the air, she solidified, having nearly doubled in height as she had evolved into Lucario. The clash between the two was far more than any other before. Outrage verses Force Palm. Hydreigon hadn’t even been using any move before, but now apparently Rio was enough of a threat that it had to properly respond.
The explosion was a magnificent sight of violet, causing the Hydreigon to reel back, having lost the confrontation. But Rio was not without damage, also being launched back and falling to a knee after the blow and holding her arm. “Cara! Now!” I shouted.
Thankfully Cara was a lot closer this time, and delivered the most powerful looking Aura Sphere she had managed. The resulting explosion rocked the massive dragon to the side. Just in time for five Quagsire to hit it with Avalanche. Well, two of them used Icy Wind, but it had the same effect. Half the Hydreigon froze over almost instantly and it crashed to the ground.
There was silence for a few moments as we all stood, waiting to see if it would get up. The silence was broken by an absolutely battered Whirly crashing through some side brush and flying into the field looking for a target. But she stopped when she saw that it was down. “Did we win?” she asked, breathing heavily.
“I…think so?” I said, hesitant to say anything more. But either the dragon was good at playing possum, or it was really unconscious.
A moment later a few more figures burst through the brush, and everyone turned to look at them. This time it was Dee, followed by Officer Jenny and Valerie. Everyone rather rapidly approached me. “What happened?” Officer Jenny demanded, looking from me to the downed dragon.
“Well, thanks to the help of the Quagsire,” I gestured over to the group. “We were able to take it down.” I turned to them, waving a bit. “Thanks for the save!” I honestly don’t think that my team would have been able to win this fight without those five constantly harassing him. This was an eleven on one fight, and we barely won. Rio was down, but not out. Brionne and Whirly were severely injured. Diancie had also taken some hits when I wasn’t paying attention, though she didn’t seem very hurt. Cara was in a similar state, not having been able to perfectly dodge everything thrown at her.
“You’re sure it’s out?” Officer Jenny said as she approached.
“Sure looks like it,” Valerie said with a sigh. “That thing was…far stronger than I anticipated.”
“Agreed,” I said as I walked over to it. As I started to look over it, I spotted something. I’m not sure how I spotted it, as it was buried in fur, but I had managed it. After a moment of fiddling with it, I managed to pull out a small device. Almost immediately the Hydreigon burst into light, and when it faded there was a regular sized Zweilous.
“What? How did-” Officer Jenny began, but then noticed what I was holding. It was a small round device, with a flat side that had several screw-like protrusions. And these screws were covered in blood.
“A device that forces evolution?” I mused, pulling out my phone and taking a picture. Immediately I sent it to the Professor before calling him.
“Professor Sycamore here. What am I looking at, Jason?” The Professor’s voice came back.
“Not sure. But I think it’s a device to force a Pokemon to evolve. I pulled it off of a Hydreigon that had gone berserk, and it devolved back into Zweilous.”
“It’s true, Professor,” Officer Jenny said before he even had a chance to question me. “It also made the Pokemon twice its average size, and several times more powerful and aggressive than normal.”
I nodded, showing the unconscious Zweilous. “Does it’s pokeball work now?” I asked, looking at Officer Jenny.
“Ah.” Valerie quickly moved up, fishing out a pokeball. “I’ve got it.”
The Pokemon returned without issue. “Hm. Curious…” I muttered. “So the device also prevents it from being returned…” I looked over at my team. “Dee, how is everyone?”
Dee looked up, having been checking over Cara last, since she was the least hurt. “Brionne, Rio, and Whirly are going to need a Pokecenter…but everyone else is alright.”
“Alright,” I said with a nod. “We’re going to head to the Pokecenter. Professor, you might want to head to Laverre.”
He nodded. “I’m on my way.” And then he hung up.
I put away my phone, checking on Eevee again, who had apparently fallen asleep now that all the excitement was over. I nodded, returning everyone but Dee and Cara. “Let’s go.” I looked over at Valerie. “That Pokemon is going to need a full checkup… And I’m sure it’s going to be absolutely distraught when it realizes what it did to its Trainer…”
“Right. Are you okay?” Officer Jenny asked, looking me up and down.
“Hm?” I looked down at myself. “Ah, yeah I’m alright. Just gotta wash up and stuff,” I said rather nonchalantly before I began walking back to town. I looked an absolute mess, not just because I had taken a tumble and nearly been hyper beamed, but also because I’d spent a month out in the wilderness. With how I look, I’m shocked she wasn’t more skeptical of me.
“If you’re sure…”
It was a bit busy back in the pokecenter, but with Valerie there we got priority. I turned over everyone but Eevee and got a room. Valerie split off to deal with things, and make sure her Pokemon got healed. The Association gave me another fifteen thousand for resolving the situation. After about an hour, I was all clean and in some fresh clothes, giving Eevee her special bath when there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” I called.
Someone came in, and then I saw Professor Sycamore poke his head around the corner. “Ah, there you are…” He spotted the Eevee, watching as I gently massaged the shampoo into her fur. Although he might also be curious about the Goomy that was stuck to my arm, as she refused to let go no matter what.
Nurse Joy had informed me that it was a female, and was in rather good health. Though she heavily suggested I should give her a nice bath, because wild Goomy tended to carry quite a lot of bacteria. She had even given me the proper soaps. It was just that this little slug absolutely refused to let go of me, even when I tried to wash it off, it somehow was able to cling.
Eventually I had given up and just washed it and myself. But now it was Eevee’s turn. “And who is this?” he asked as he came up beside me. Eevee eyed him suspiciously.
“The newest member of my little family. Although…” I glanced at the Goomy. “I think she’s going to lose that title pretty quick, considering this one,” I gestured at the thing attached to my arm.
“What’s the story with the Goomy?” He asked, examining the slug attached to me.
“Not sure. Picked her up while avoiding a hyper beam, and she won’t let go.” I paid little mind to the clinging thing, focused on washing Eevee. “She also won’t talk to me.”
“Hm… Where’s her clan?” he asked.
I paused, the thought hadn’t even occurred to me. “She was alone,” I said slowly as I continued with Eevee’s bath.
“Then…” he stopped, realizing that he shouldn’t finish that thought.
“Yes. But it’ll be alright.” I reached up and gently squished the slug. “I’ve got her.”
He looked at me for a moment and then sighed, shaking his head. “Yanno, when I said you had permission to have more Pokemon than normal, I didn’t expect you to immediately amass a hoard.”
I laughed, starting to rinse off Eevee. “Not my fault this world is such shit that there are so many Pokemon that need my attention.”
“Do you plan on taking in every Pokemon you come across?”
“If they need me.” I smiled a bit down at Eevee, rubbing at a few spots that had healed nicely. Her coat had so few missing patches now, the worst part was her face, but even that was healing. “Isn’t that right little cutie,” I said softly, rubbing at her cheeks.
She made a huffing sound at me, but I could see how her tail wagged a bit. “So where is this device?” the Professor finally asked.
“On the desk,” I said as I grabbed a towel and started to dry off the wet little canine.
I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he made his way over, picking up the odd thing. “This was embedded in the Pokemon?” he asked, though it barely sounded like a question as the blood made that obvious.
“Yeah.” After the first towling, I grabbed a second towel that had been warming by the heater and wrapped it around Eevee as I left the bathroom. “From my observation… it seems to be some sort of mixture of a dusk stone, and an artificial Mega Stone.”
He frowned at it, turning it slowly over in his hands. “Who could even design something like this…and why give it to a new Trainer?”
“I think that’s pretty obvious,” I said as I sat down on the bed, petting Eevee absentmindedly. The Professor gave me a look that made it clear it was not obvious in the slightest. I sighed. “Well, the second part is obvious. Live test. The first part is a bit less, but I have some ideas.”
“Live test…” he muttered, not even looking up at me. “Who do you think it is?”
“The obvious culprit is Team Flare.” His head snapped up as he looked at me. “Yes, I know who they are. I also know vaguely of their plans… or at least I thought I did. If this is them, then this isn’t anything I’m aware of.”
He seemed to mull that over a bit before nodding. “Any…any other suspects?”
I remained quiet for a moment. “The Association.”
Again he had to think over that, sitting down and thinking. After a few moments he asked, “What makes you think that?”
“Timing, mostly.” I sighed a bit, and he waited for me to explain. “Here’s the events as I see them. The Trainer buys the device last night. He tries it, his Pokemon goes on a rampage. I’m contacted and rush over here.”
“That seems like an appropriate response by the Association,” he said slowly, not quite seeing it.
Why does everyone interrupt me when I’m trying to explain things? “That’s not where the timeline feels weird. It takes me hours to get here, but when I arrive, Valerie has just recently left, and Officer Jenny is still doing her investigation.”
He gave me a puzzled look, shaking his head a bit. “Where’s the weird part?”
“Arceus it’s a good thing you’re not a detective…” I mumbled before continuing, “The events are out of order. Officer Jenny’s investigation should have happened before I was contacted.”
“Unless…” His eyes went a bit wide as he came to the realization.
“Unless the Association was aware of it before Officer Jenny.” I sighed a bit and shook my head. “Of course, I might also just be pissed off at the Association from how they treated me, but the timing of stuff rubs me the wrong way. Especially because Officer Jenny didn’t know I was coming.”
“Which means she probably hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to the Association,” the Professor said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“It’s also possible that the Association heard it through other channels, or Valerie,” I suggested, explaining more of the reasons I had my doubts.
He nodded slowly, following my train of thought.
Before he could say more there was a knock at the door. “Come in.” I was honestly done with this conversation and didn’t really want to spitball theories. There just wasn’t enough information.
It was a Wigglytuff who opened the door, with a tray. “I have your Pokemon,” she said happily.
“Ah, you could have just sent Dee,” I said as I laid Eevee down and got up.
“No, no. There’s proper procedures to this. Dee is very much aware of them,” she said as she held out the tray to me.
“I suppose so,” I said with a chuckle while gathering the pokeballs. She simply gave me a smile and wobbled out of the room. I had to resist the urge to pat her head.
Without much thought I released everyone into the room. Rio looked absolutely ecstatic. “Did you see that hit?” she said proudly.
I nodded. “It was very impressive. But it would have been better to deflect the blow and strike with your other paw,” I said. I could see the moment she realized that that was a much better option. “I’ve got suggestions for everyone-”
The Professor stood up. “I’m going to head to the lab with this,” he said as he held up the device. “I’ll let you know what I find.”
“Right.” I nodded. “Oh, and…” I looked at him, and then at the device. “Depending on who comes demanding for that, we’ll have our answer on who it belonged to.”
He paused, but nodded and left without another word.
“Alright. So, Rio.” I sat down, picking Eevee back up and putting her in my lap. “You forgot the second part of your training, which is deflecting. Block or deflect.”
She nodded and punched a fist into her palm. “Right. I could have knocked him down quicker if I had just deflected the attack and struck him while his guard was open.”
“Brionne,” I looked at the newly evolved water Pokemon. “When I give you an order, there’s a reason.”
Her shoulders slumped a bit and she nodded. “Right… I wouldn’t have gotten hurt if I had listened…”
“You still did fantastically,” I said and picked her up, putting her on the bed beside me and began petting her. “It was a good idea to overpower the breath with your Water Gun, but you got tunnel vision and forgot that you can do other things.”
She nodded slowly. “But I’m so slow… What should I have done?”
“We’ll work on that. Just know that you can use your Water Gun to propel yourself, and you have other moves.” I smiled and rubbed her on her back softly. “Switching to Bubble Beam was a very good choice.”
She smiled up at me, nuzzling into my side.
“Cara.” She flinched. Just from looking at her I could tell she was disappointed in herself for her performance. “Your control has gotten so much better, but you panicked and let your Aura Sphere slip too easily.”
Her gaze was locked on the ground as she nodded slightly, not answering.
“But that last Aura Sphere was extremely impressive. It showed off just how far you’ve come,” I said with a smile. “You’re nowhere near the level you were before the training. Have more confidence in yourself, okay?”
I could see her shoulders sag a bit, but she nodded. I’m sure she was going to be extremely hard on herself.
“Oh oh, me next!” Whirly said excitedly. While I was pointing out their shortcomings and failures, I was also explaining where they were getting things right. Clearly the little bug wanted some praise.
“The only thing I can complain about your performance, little bug, is that you failed to poison them even once.” She froze, staring blankly at the air. She hadn’t even realized it. “You also spent too much time just doing Rollout. But that’s because we’ve only had time to train one technique. That’s my fault,” I admitted.
“Oh please, we wouldn’t have stood a chance without that training,” Rio said, patting her mother on the shoulder. I noticed that Rio was nearly half a foot taller than her mother, though neither had seemed to notice.
“Right.” I sighed a bit, and then looked over at the last participant in this battle. “Diancie.” She perked up at her name, smiling. “Your Gravity is fantastic, but I know for a fact you can do other things. Right?”
She seemed to think about this, nodding slowly. “Yes?”
“What were you doing the whole fight?” I tried to prompt her.
“Gravity!” she exclaimed happily, putting her hands on her hips.
“Yes.” I nodded to her response. “Gravity. But nothing else.”
Suddenly she had a realization. “Ah!” Gravity was a move that didn’t need to constantly be managed, and she had gotten it so that the duration was quite long. “I should have… been attacking?”
“Or tanking,” I said with a nod. “You could have moved in and taken some of the hits that Brione, Rio, or Whirly took.” It was a good thing she realized on her own what she had done wrong, even if it took a bit of prompting to have her realize she’d done anything wrong in the first place.
“Oh…” she said softly, looking down at her hands.
“But you still did a very good job. Your Gravity let everyone attack it easier, and kept it from running.” I reached over and rubbed her head. “Well, rest up,” I said as I smiled. “We’re going to start training more tomorrow.” Everyone agreed, eager to become stronger after experiencing a battle like that. We all settled in for the night, though it took a while for everyone to calm down enough to actually fall asleep.
The sleeping arrangements had shifted around a bit now that certain Pokemon had increased in size and changed shape. Cara was the only one who didn’t move. Rio had moved down off my chest and instead laid mostly on my leg using my thigh as a pillow. Brionne still laid on my chest, but she took up a lot more room. Eevee had actually joined into the pile, tucking her head into the side of my neck. Whirly remained under my arm, again placing herself so that my hand rested on top of her. My pillow was replaced by Dee, and finally Diancie laid on the same side as Cara, her hands grasping onto my fingers. Oh and there was the Goomy, who just clung to my arm.
I was going to drown in Pokemon at this rate.
Chapter 7
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - EVOLVED - Lucario - Daughter of Cara
Veni - EVOLVED Whirly - Whirlipede - Adopted daughter of Cara
Popplio - EVOLVED Brionne - Brionne - Rescued from aquarium
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Taken from Pokecenter
NEW Goomy - Goomy - Clinging for dear life
Chapter Text
The clearing was just as we had left it, and I realized it had quite a few more battle scars than when we first arrived. They had accumulated so slowly that I hadn’t noticed. I looked around the place as we set up camp, setting up things for the next day when we would once more throw ourselves into training.
As I was making dinner with Dee’s help, Cara approached me. “What can I do to be better?” she asked, staring at the ground like it had wronged her. She had been stewing on this the entire hike here, hardly saying a word, but couldn’t hold it back anymore.
I looked at her and smiled, reaching out and rubbing her head. “You’re so hard on yourself,” I said softly. “It’s said that you are your own harshest critic, and I think that’s where you’re stuck.”
She looked up at me with a confused expression, though she didn’t try her feigned attempts to bat my hand away like she normally did.
“You know where your mistakes were, right?” She nodded. “Then that’s where you need to work. Your speed is good, and it can be better. But if you ever want to reach the level you’re aiming for you need to work on three things.”
Her head tilted to the side as she waited for me to continue. It was nice that my Pokemon didn’t interrupt me, usually.
“Speed. Control. Density. You need to gather your aura faster, control it more precisely, and increase its density.” Her brow furrowed as she mulled over my words. I looked over the rest of the Pokemon. “That goes for every type of energy. Of course, that’s easier said than done. But you just need to keep at it until you get it.”
“How do you know that I’ll succeed?” she said softly.
I moved my hand down, rubbing at her cheek. “Because I believe in you. And it’s okay if you don’t believe in yourself, you just have to believe in me. Believe in the me that believes in you.” I almost felt embarrassed to use that line, but it’s not like anyone would know where it came from.
She leaned into my hand, her eyes closing a bit. This was the first time that she had really let me pet her when there were others watching. That fight had really opened her eyes, and I guess from the way that I encouraged Rio rather than trying to get her out of danger led Cara to rethink some things.
Of course it wasn’t long before she realized what was going on and quickly shuffled away, avoiding looking at me or anyone else. “I definitely think bashful was the correct nature to assign her,” I said with a chuckle.
Everyone enjoyed dinner. I wasn’t sure what Goomy liked, so I simply fed her leaves. It took some coaxing to actually get her to eat, but I knew she was hungry. She’d not eaten anything since I picked her up. In fact she hardly moved, I hadn’t even heard her make a single noise. The only way I knew she was really even alive was that her antenna moved and she blinked sometimes. And of course the fact that she absolutely refused to let go of my coat.
The next morning, everyone got a pokeblock. I even offered one to Goomy, but she wouldn’t eat it. With a sigh I made my way out into the field. “Diancie.” The rock Pokemon floated in front of me, smiling and twirling. I glanced at the Goomy. “You’re about to have a bad time,” I said sympathetically to the slug. “Full range.”
There was the sudden force as Gravity increased. Goomy actually let out a soft noise, but her grip was strong enough that she didn’t let go, though she noticeably sagged. Her eyes darted around as she tried to figure out what was going on, and seeing everyone under the effects just made her more confused.
I made my way around. “Speed. Control. Density,” I repeated what I had said last night, now properly addressing everyone. “You have to gather your energy as fast as you can. You have to control it as best as you can. And you have to make it as dense as possible.” I took a deep breath. “Cara. You will continue your training.”
“Yes…” she said.
“But this time.” She looked over at me. “I want you to touch every spot twice before launching your aura sphere. And Rio will be your target.” Rio suddenly straightened, turning her attention to Cara for a moment before looking at me. There was a look on Cara’s face, but she nodded and jumped to the first position. “Rio. You will be doing the same thing as Cara, but you will not be using Aura Sphere. Instead, you will be blocking or deflecting Cara’s aura with your own and attempting to strike her.”
Rio nodded a bit, moving over to the opposite position of Cara. She looked nervous, but also excited. This was going to be a harsh way to train the two of them, but it should also be extremely effective at sharpening their aura.
“And the other attacks,” I added. “Whirly, you will be doing your poison rollout, your targets are everyone. You’re not allowed to attack the same target twice in a row.”
They all looked at me with a mixture of confusion and worry.
“What? You want to be stronger, right? The best way to do that is to actually attack, and be attacked.” I was definitely taking a rougher way of training, but I had confirmed that the curry had the full heal effect, as well as restoring their energy. The way I had been doing training was effective, but it could be better. Pokemon improved best through actual combat, so if I wanted to see more growth they would need to fight each other. “Dee and Diancie will be using the striker balls to attack as well. And Dee will be using Heal Pulse as often as possible.”
I picked up one of the balls, which was honestly not as much of a struggle as I thought it would be. I guess I had really gotten stronger as well. “So, we’re just supposed to attack each other?” Whirly asked, her eyes looking over the others.
“Pretty much. But, you have to do it in specific ways.” I looked over at Brionne. “I want you to use Aqua Ring repeatedly, and practice using your Water Gun to move around. You’re the least mobile right now, but that can be fixed.”
Brionne perked up when I specifically called on her. She had been looking a bit dejected because I hadn’t been including her, but now she realized why. “Okay!” she said excitedly.
“Can I have more weight?” Dee asked suddenly.
I blinked, looking at her in confusion. And then I realized I had completely forgotten that she was wearing the weight harness. I pulled out the remote, and noted that she was at forty pounds. She had started at five pounds and that had been a struggle, but she was already at forty before I realized. Looking at her for a moment I nodded and turned it up to fifty.
She struggled for a moment to get her footing before nodding when she situated herself.
And that’s how training started. It took two weeks before I was confident that Brionne could move herself competently if the need should arise. She would have to train again when she evolved to adjust for her change in shape and weight, but that was a future problem. Before I had her join the others, I had her practice Moonblast. It took a day before she managed to do it, but by the end of the third week she could do it consistently. So I added her to the mix switching up between Water Gun, and Moonblast.
It was actually interesting to hear her talk about how the fairy type energy in her body felt weird, but right. Even though Brionne didn’t have the fairy type, her final stage did, so she was probably feeling the beginnings of that energy.
Rolling back to that first week of training, it was in a word: rough. Many attacks didn’t need to get blocked or dodged, as they simply missed, so it was a lot of random moves being thrown out randomly. But as accuracy increased, they all started taking a beating. That second week was probably the roughest for them, because they got thrashed every day. Thank Arceus for curry.
The third week was when they all started getting the hang of it, and then Brionne came in the fourth week and completely trashed all of the rhythm they had gotten in. Which had been the plan. I knew that they would start slipping into patterns, so I planned to change things up every week.
Week five I had Diancie also start using Moonblast, which started off rather weak but quickly became something that very much needed to be dodged or blocked. Or in Dee’s case, tanked. Her weight was also now at seventy five. Her Heal Pulse had honestly gotten to an almost ridiculous range, and she could also now focus it in to make it extremely effective.
By week six, Diancie’s mastery of Gravity had gotten so large that it was now almost affecting the entire field, so I had her condense it down and increase the force over the training ground. Everyone had to stop training, as she had increased the Gravity to ten times normal. We had all gotten so used to five times that it honestly felt like nothing, but just that tick more had brought all of us to our knees, much to Diancie’s delight.
Unfortunately we didn’t have time to do anything serious when we finally acclimated, as I got another request. The liaison had not let up from her multi-daily-check in-texts. I honestly thought about blocking her, she was extremely annoying. But that would mean that I wouldn’t have gotten this request.
“Unknown Pokemon captured. Requesting input. Please come to Association Headquarters in Lumiose.”
“On my way,” was my response.
I had Diancie stop her Gravity, and told everyone we had another request. To my surprise, everyone but Cara wanted to stay and keep training after learning what the request was. I hesitated for a moment, but eventually agreed. I left two days worth of pokeblocks, and enough ingredients for two nights before heading off with Cara, Eevee, and the silent Goomy. I was starting to get worried about my little slug friend, as she still wasn’t talking and I practically had to force her to eat.
Arriving at the headquarters in the evening, I had to show my ID to no less than six different security people, who directed me where to go. “This building is way too damn big, and has way too much security,” I muttered as I entered the room I was directed to. “Alright, I’m here.”
There were four people in the room, one of which I recognized as the old man that had been there during my tests. He was in a deep conversation with the two that I didn’t recognize. The fourth person was Professor Sycamore. “Ah, Jason, you’re here,” the Professor said with a smile, motioning me over. They were looking out of a window.
“Yeah, I am,” I said as I walked over, rolling my eyes. “What’s this-” I paused, my brow furrowing. “Brute Bonnet? What’s a Paradox Pokemon doing here?”
The conversation immediately came to a halt. “You know what that is?” the old man said.
“We were under the impression it was a mutated Amoonguss,” one of the unknown men said. He was taller than me, with brown hair and large glasses, wearing a sort of cheap looking suit.
“Well, that’s not wrong. Though it would be more correct to say that Amoonguss is a mutation of it. Though that change happened over… oh what was it… ten million years? Some ridiculously long time like that. Or a different timeline, but all that is really complicated.”
They were all staring at me like I had three heads.
I just frowned at them. “Well if you don’t believe me, call Professor Sada and ask her if this Pokemon is in her scarlet book,” I said with annoyance. “Wasting my time when you could ask other Professors,” I added as I turned and walked out. I wasn't entirely sure why I was so upset over this, but not knowing why wasn't going to make me feel better.
It took a moment before the Professor caught back up to me. “So you really know what that is?”
“I already told you. How it got out of area zero, only Professor Sada, or Turo, would know. Depending on if they’re alive.” I paused. “Hopefully they both are… At this point it might be her AI that’s impersonating her…”
Out of the corner of my eye I could see the completely blank look on the Professor’s face like he had no idea what I was talking about.
I rolled my eyes. “Do you know Professor Sada or Turo?”
“Yes… They’re… In Paldea. Researching something in the crater,” he said after a moment.
“Call Professor Sada,” I said, stopping in the hall and gesturing at him.
He hesitated a moment before pulling out his phone. It rang for a bit before there was an answer. “Professor Sycamore? What do you need? I’m a bit busy.”
“Ah- well… you see… uh… where to start…”
“Give me that,” I said as I snatched the phone. “Professor Sada, is there a Brute Bonnet in your scarlet book?”
I could see on the screen that she froze, not moving for several seconds before slowly looking over at me. “How do you know about that?”
“I know everything. Professor Sycamore can explain it to you later, but please answer my question.” It didn’t look like she was an AI, but I wasn’t sure how advanced it had been so I don’t know how well it could impersonate her. But if Professor Turo was also alive and in the picture, then that meant some interesting things.
She hesitated for a moment. “There…is.”
“We’ve got one here in Kalos, and the Association is freaking out about it,” I explained.
Her entire body snapped towards me and she leaned towards whatever recording device she had, making her appear large. “They what? When? How? What happened? Who has it?”
I looked over at the Professor, who sighed and looked around to make sure no one was around. “It was confiscated off of a Team Flare member.”
“That’s concerning,” I couldn’t help but say.
Professor Sada had a pained expression on her face. “Damn… Any other information?”
“I’m afraid not,” Professor Sycamore said, shaking his head. “He won’t say where he got it from.”
“I- oh, I’m getting another call,” she said, obviously annoyed.
“Probably the Association,” I said with a nod. “They’ll be able to give you a lot more information.” I hung up before passing the phone back to Professor Sycamore.
He blinked at me. “Did…did you just hang up on her?”
“I’ve got some annoying memories of her damn AI. She was so picky about not having an assistant up to her standards that she made one, that was a copy of herself. That’s taking narcissism to an extreme I don’t want to deal with.” I sort of forced him to take the phone and turned away. I stopped before looking back and pointing a finger at him. “Do not give her my number.”
He laughed as he started to follow me out. “I won’t have to. I’m sure the Association will do that.”
“Great, another person that I will have to ignore,” I muttered, shaking my head.
“Another person?”
“That-” I took a deep breath. “That damn liaison the Association assigned me.” I waved a hand vaguely in the air. “She sends me multiple texts a day to check in and ask what I’m doing. You’d think after more than two months she’d get the hint.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Maybe she’s just…being overly friendly?”
“Oh please, how could I not spot such an obvious honey trap?” He looked at me with a blank expression. “Oh, what, you expect me to believe that she got one look at me, some random guy, and fell for me? As attractive as I am, I don’t really believe that,” I said, gesturing at myself.
A snort escaped him. “Talk about narcissism.”
I laughed a bit, shaking my head. “Maybe a little. But I like to think of myself as more of a realist. Maybe a bit paranoid, but with the crap the Association has been putting me through I think it’s more than warranted.”
“You mentioned that. What happened?”
I sighed and explained the hours of stupid questions they had put me through.
When I was finished with my explanation he looked thoughtful. “Well, the type of questions seem to be pretty standard, but the degree of difficulty was very much over the top.”
“I honestly don’t care. But if they keep bothering me for stupid little things like today, I’m going to leave the region,” I said before taking a deep breath. “Like, this could have just been a text? Just send me a text and be like ‘do you know what this is?’ And bam, I tell them what it is.”
A laugh escaped him, and he nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think anyone has ever thought to do that. I know I didn’t.”
I stared blankly at him. I wanted to say that I question the average intelligence of the individuals of this organization, but I felt that may be a little harsh. My otherworldly knowledge and experience has me thinking in a very different way to the people around me. “I’m leaving,” I said after a moment and walked off.
He didn’t follow after me this time, and instead I made my way to the train station and headed back to Santalune. It was technically closer to where everyone was training
Cara stood beside me as we waited on the train. “Are we heading back tonight?”
I shook my head. I honestly wanted to spend a night in a bed before heading back out. “It’ll be dark by the time we start hiking. We can just wait till tomorrow.”
She remained silent for a few moments. “You are upset,” she said softly.
Sighing, I rubbed my face. “I’m a bit annoyed. I would have much rather spent the day watching all of you train than deal with this.”
“Why does it upset you?” she asked.
I paused, trying to think of the right words to explain it. “What if someone told you that you weren’t allowed to see Rio unless you did everything they told you?”
“I’d kick their ass,” she said without hesitation.
I snorted. “Okay, yeah. I guess that’s an option,” I said with a soft laugh, my mood was already starting to get better.
“But… I think I understand.” She had quite an intense look on her face, glaring down at the ground in front of her. “You don’t get to be with us if you don’t listen to them.”
“Pretty much.” I glanced at the Goomy attached to my arm, and reached back into my hood to check on Eevee, who was asleep. “I just wanted to be a Trainer. But they put me into a position with responsibilities.” That still rubbed me the wrong way. I felt like the Professors knew something that they didn’t talk about, and decided to use me to help.
Silence fell, but it was a comfortable silence. Being in the company of Cara was pretty nice. Like hanging out with an old friend you’ve known for years, just enjoying each other's company. The train arrived after a few more minutes, and we boarded. It was mostly empty, but I got quite a few looks from the occupants. Not that I really blame them, since I probably looked like someone who had spent weeks in the woods. Which I had.
Cara still seemed a bit uncomfortable with either the crowd, or being on the train, as she was gripping onto my coat. It could have also been that she just wanted to maintain some sort of contact. It had occurred to me that she might have some abandonment issues. From what I had found out, she relied heavily on her mate, and he had abandoned her. It was almost like she thought I would do the same.
The thought of doing something like that hadn’t even crossed my mind, but it was probably something she worried about. I had accidentally put myself in a position where she was heavily reliant on me. But that’s what a Trainer was supposed to be, right? The person that the Pokemon relied on? The thought of how she would react if I ever left her was not a pleasant one. Her reaction from being separated back in the cave was good evidence of that.
Gently I placed my hand on hers and she looked at me. I smiled a bit at her. “You’re stuck with me,” I said softly.
Her face was completely blank as she just stared at me. Slowly her eyes widened a bit and she suddenly looked away and down at her lap. She didn’t say anything but she nodded, shifting her grip from my coat to my hand.
The train ride was short, since we were barely passing through one town before arriving. Cara and I walked to the Pokecenter. Immediately I noticed that it was a different Wigglytuff in the main area, though it looked like the night shift Nurse Joy. I was actually starting to get pretty good at telling Nurse Joy’s apart, but it was something so subtle that I couldn’t quite tell what it was. They just had different vibes. What was really interesting was there were other people dressed similarly to Nurse Joy. While I knew it would be impossible to run something on this scale by herself, even with multiple Joy’s, it was still kind of weird to see other people doing her job.
She also looked busy, so I had to get in line at a desk that had a sign that said ‘Overnight Stays’. It didn’t take too long to get to the front and get a room key. It was always interesting to see a busy Pokecenter.
Entering the room, I gently laid Eevee down. The special shampoo had done its job and repaired the damage that had been done to her skin. She was still very weak and slept a lot, but she could move around for a while just fine now. From the way she had been acting I wondered if she had a timid nature rather than lonely, but that seemed to have stopped. I still had to look after her while her body tried to recover from the disease, but she was a lot more outgoing.
Then there was the Goomy. She was a problem that I was going to have to deal with. And I decided that now would be the best time to start on that, while there were less Pokemon around and we were in the safety of this room.
Slowly I removed my coat, careful to not disturb her or let her know what I was doing. When she did realize, I had already laid the coat down on the bed and knelt down beside it, looking at her. I didn’t reprimand her. I didn’t chastise her for her actions. I just put my arms around her and pulled her in close to my chest, similar to when I had scooped her up.
“It’s okay,” I said softly, “I’ve got you.” I could feel her grab hold of me, clinging tightly. “I’ve got you,” I said again, gently rubbing the top of her head. “I know you’re sad…and scared… But I’ve got you.”
For the first time since picking her up that first time, she started to make actual noise. Unfortunately it was a noise I was fairly familiar with; sobbing. All I could really do was hold and pet the little slug who practically went limp in my embrace. She was sticky and slimy, but the sort of goo membrane around her didn’t actually come off easily. It kind of reminded me of oobleck. I was fairly certain that she had the Gooey ability.
We sat there for probably an hour, and I would have continued to sit there, comforting her, if my phone hadn’t started ringing. I sighed softly, looking over at my bag. After a moment Cara went over, getting my phone and bringing it to me. “Oh. Thank you.” I had honestly just planned on ignoring it.
The number was not one I recognized. Unsticking my hand from the little slug, I took the phone, reluctantly answering it. Immediately I recognized Professor Sada. “Is this Jason?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” I said with a sigh. “Can I help you, Sada?”
She frowned a bit. “The Association gave me your number.”
“Oh I’m sure.”
There was a moment of silence before she got to the reason she was calling. “How did you know about my journal?”
I thought about making an excuse, but honestly I was just tired. “Because I’m not from this world.” Her brow furrowed, and I also saw Cara give me a look. I realized that I had not explained it to her properly and she had apparently not pieced it together from the other conversations I had had, so I decided to do so now. “I’m from a different reality. One where Pokemon, and this entire world, are fictional constructs in the form of games, cartoons, and literature.”
There was just silence as Profesor Sada just stared at me. Cara just looked even more confused.
“I’m not sure why I’m here, but I was beaten nearly to death, or to death, and as I was dying Arceus for some reason grabbed me and dropped me in this reality.” I looked at Cara, seeing her realize that’s how I came to be in the forest.
“I find that hard to believe…”
“Yeah well that’s not my problem.” I honestly wanted to just hang up on her again, but I knew that that was just because I was in a grumpy mood. “Considering your research, you should be more aware of the existence of other realities more than anyone else. Well, maybe your husband could rival your knowledge.”
She didn’t respond for a moment, looking thoughtful. “So, you know me?”
“Technically I know your AI.” I saw the way she jolted, her eyes snapping to me. “You were already dead in the game by the time I interacted with you.”
There was a pause. “How did I die?”
I thought about it a moment, wondering if that would be spoiling the future, or if that was some sort of alternate event. I decided that this would be a good event to try and test. “You tried to stop a fight between powerful Pokemon, and died as a result. And the research station was destroyed.” I waited a moment, glancing around. If I was doing damage to the timeline, surely something would show up, right?
But nothing did.
“I see… What about my husband?”
“That uh…gets a bit complicated. There are two realities that I know of, one where he abandons you and you die, and the other you abandon him and he dies-”
“My husband and I are quite happy, thank you,” she interrupts, immediately irritated.
I rolled my eyes. “We’re talking about alternate realities. I’ve found that my knowledge doesn't match up one hundred percent, but it’s close enough that I know a lot.”
She glared at me a moment before taking a deep breath. “Right. I suppose with endless realities, anything would be possible…”
“Is there anything else? I’m rather busy.” I knew she could see that I was currently comforting a Pokemon, who was still noticeably sobbing and shaking in my arms. She hung up on me without another word. I snorted softly, tossing my phone to the side.
“You are from another world?” Cara said softly, her brow furrowed. She looked unsure how to process that information.
“I am. I was going to explain it eventually, but I didn’t really think it mattered. You see, I-”
“Do you want to go back?” she asked, interrupting me. Her head had drooped and she was staring at the ground.
“No,” I responded immediately. And that was the truth. “While I wish I could tell my family and friends that I’m okay… I don’t want to go back.”
She moved forward, wrapping her arms around me and holding me tightly. I could feel her press her face into my back, and I could also feel the slight prick of her chest spike.
“I’m not going to leave you,” I said softly. “And that goes for you, too.” I gently pet Goomy. The little slugs grip had actually loosened, and I felt that I could actually pull her off. But I was fine just holding her.
Before we all got settled in, I made sure to get everyone food, and took a shower. In the morning we would make our way back to the training ground, but for now we would enjoy the comfort of a bed. Goomy was still clinging to me, but I could tell she had relaxed. When we all finally laid down, Cara was quite quick to lay down, actually nuzzling into my shoulder. When I made a comment about her being extra affectionate tonight, she told me to shut up, but didn’t stop.
~
Before leaving town I bought more food, since my little family had grown and the rate they were eating would increase. Estimating my spendings, it cost five hundred for a month's worth of food for each Pokemon, so I bought two months worth. That included berries for curries, but not for pokeblocks. Pokeblocks were quite costly to make at the quality I could do. Buying them would be even more expensive, but I could make a month's worth of pokeblocks, three times a day, for about a thousand for each Pokemon. So I bought two months worth of pokeblock ingredients as well.
Raising Pokemon at the standard that I was attempting was very expensive. But the results were worth it. Just seeing how much they’ve grown from when we all first joined up was a bit crazy. They were all growing at a far faster rate than I had imagined possible. It was like I had found a nearly perfect way to power level Pokemon by accident, but a big part of that was thanks to the pokeblocks and all of it wouldn’t be possible if not for them. The ones that were purchasable were generic, and being able to make them myself allowed me to give the Pokemon the most boost possible, although it was costly. Thankfully I had such an easy way to make money, at the cost of my nerves.
The sight that met us the next day when we finally made it to the clearing was, to put it simply, a mess. The entire field was trashed. Diancie was throwing large boulders around, Ancient Power I believe, laughing as everyone else tried to fend off the assault. Well, Dee just took the hits like they were nothing and then used a Heal Pulse.
It also looked like Brionne had learned Ice Beam, as she was currently attempting to hit Rio with it and much of the ground had already been frozen. Rio had somehow managed to figure out Bone Rush. Probably from observing all of the rock energy that Diancie was throwing around. Rock and ground seemed to have pretty similar energy after all.
But the most shocking thing was the massive red object that was bouncing off rocks and carving shallow trenches through the earth. I knew Whirlipede was just a short middle evolution, but I didn’t expect her to evolve while I was away. I could barely see her movements, but it looked like she was using some sort of combination of Rollout and Gyro Ball. The craters and trenches she left had hints of purple goop, so she was also using her poison in some way.
I looked over at Cara, who was still standing stunned. “Well?” I gave her a nudge. “Get in there. See if you can figure out how Rio learned to form a Bone Rush.” She didn’t move and it took a second nudge and shoving a pokeblock into her mouth before she snapped out of it and nodded, rushing in.
Making my way over towards the tent I was intercepted by the appearance of an extremely large bug. She was much bigger than the average, standing almost ten feet tall. There was a pleased expression on her face. “I evolved!” she declared, lowering her head so that we could talk face to face.
“I can see that,” I said with a chuckle, reaching out and rubbing at the spot between her horns. Her eyes closed as she made happy little noises at the attention. “I guess I can’t call you little bug anymore, eh?”
Her eyes snapped open as she realized this as well. I guess she liked that nickname. “Ah- uhm… I guess not.” She almost looked sad about it. She was the only one in the group that I actually said the pet name I had for them out loud.
I chuckled a bit more. “I can still call you little bug if you want. But it’d be ironic now.”
She looked thoughtful for a moment before she suddenly leaned in, pressing her head against mine. “You can call me whatever nickname you want. Or you can use my new name, Scoly.”
It caught me a bit off guard that she was suddenly showing affection like this. But I just smiled, rubbing under her chin. “Alright. As long as you're happy, it’s good.”
“Of course I’m happy,” she said, rubbing up against me. “I’m big enough that you can ride on top of me now.”
I couldn’t help but let out a slight snort. “Oh yeah? I guess I could. You can be my bug horse.”
She suddenly froze, and then straightened up. Looking up at her I could see that there was a slight blush on her face. She was embarrassed? She could blush? Before I had a chance to ask, she was suddenly a ball and bounded off away from me.
With a laugh I simply made my way to the campsite, putting Eevee and Goomy down in the tent. I was actually a bit surprised that the little slug had actually let herself be put down, but after last night's reassurances she had finally snapped her out of whatever sort of mental lock she had.
Looking at the spot I had left things for them, I noticed that there was nothing left. They had used both days of food, and gorged themselves on pokeblocks. I sighed, hoping that they at least split them up somewhat. I had hoped Dee would have been a bit more responsible, but I guess she was heavily outnumbered. Though I was more curious as to why all the food supplies were gone.
While everyone was training, I decided to start making food. I did a quick nature test for the Goomy, now that she was far more receptive to interactions. She didn’t seem to like or dislike any of them, though spicy got the most reaction from her. So she probably had a hardy nature.
It wasn’t long before everyone was done with their training, coming over to me. Dee had an almost guilty expression and couldn’t look me in the eye. “I’m not a good cook…” she mumbled when she got close to me.
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“She burnt it,” Rio said with a bit of a giggle. “We had to forage, cus she couldn’t cook.”
Everyone else sort of nodded, and Dee hung her head, her face turning quite a surprising red. I reached over and pet her. “It’s alright. We can work on that if you want,” I said softly. “You always help me cook, so I just assumed you knew how to. That’s my fault.” It seemed that the way they were trained was to rely on someone giving out all the steps and orders. “What I’m more concerned about is the fact that it seems everyone ate their pokeblocks.”
She just nodded, helping me to pass out servings to everyone, while the others either looked guilty or simply tried to avoid looking at me. Goomy and Eevee also get a plate, though I made the little slugs extra leafy since their diet is purely leaves. Eevee was in absolute heaven, fully able to enjoy her meal without needing help to eat. It was so wonderful to see her finally be able to do that on her own and not make a mess.
Goomy seemed hesitant at first, but after the first few bites I knew she was hooked. The greatest way to win someone over, man, woman, Pokemon, whatever, all you need is good food.
The current goal was to train for one more month, before moving on to the next step of my plan. I would be doing my gym run in the third to last month, and go for all the star badges. In the three months between the end of my training, and the start of my gym fights, I wanted to do one thing.
Go to Alola and attempt the Trials.
It was a rather obvious choice to make if we are talking about making Pokemon stronger. Getting my hands on a Z-Ring and a Primarium Z, or any Z-Crystals would be immense. Whether getting those would actually require me to take the Trials, I didn’t know, but I would attempt to do them while I was there. …maybe I could get one for Eevee? I had no idea if she ever wanted to evolve, or not. Hell, they could even gigantamax. I would have to talk to her about that later.
The rest of this last month of training I shifted everyone’s focus. Now wasn’t about trying to rapidly increase everyone’s power, now it was about increasing their combat awareness. We had to be on the same wavelength. I had explained to them that they should be able to fight autonomously, with minimal input from me. That wouldn’t be to say that I wouldn’t give them instructions, but for the most part they would have to fight on their own and understand what I wanted them to do without words.
So we ran basic combat drills, talking to them and teaching them how to act under pressure, and how to react to situations. Not to wait for my instructions, but to drop everything in order to follow them. The most important thing we practiced was how to block out distractions. Every day for a whole week, everyone would get one hour of this. It consisted of everyone yelling at them, and attacking them, desperately trying to get their attention, while I would give them orders. Their only task was to do whatever I tasked them with and ignore everyone else. Because if I was giving an order, it was more important than anything else that was going on.
To my surprise, Goomy actually joined in on the training, though it was more that she was just using the Gravity to get stronger. She had witnessed its effects first hand, and wanted to get stronger. She and Eevee had been getting pokeblocks to help with their growth, though Eevee was still too weak to start proper training. Unfortunately for the little slug, the Gravity had an even greater effect on her than anyone else, so she struggled to do anything. I had given her the task to do laps around the Gravity area.
By the time the three weeks were up, everyone was fairly competent at fighting with minimal commands. Diancie struggled the most as she seemed less combat oriented than everyone else, but she still did a good job. Her response to me not giving orders was to simply use Gravity and then pelt everything with diamonds or rocks with the occasional Moonblast.
On the morning that we were all traveling to Lumiose, as that’s where the airport was, I texted my liaison to tell her I was heading to Alola for a few months. She absolutely freaked out, bombarding me with questions. Just to frazzle her more, I said that my reason for doing so was to see if other branches of the Association would treat me better. She didn’t respond to that. I also messaged Professor Sycamore to let him know I would be out of the region for a time.
When I did get a response from her, it was to tell me that a different liaison would be meeting me at the airport in Alola when I landed. I guess I had actually caused her to realize that I was not about to put up with their garbage forever.
The actual ride to the airport was extremely fast. It was the first time I had ridden Scoly, and I nearly fell off a few times because of just how much speed she would pick up. Thankfully it was actually a pretty comfortable ride and I just needed a little padding. Still, riding bareback was not something that I ever enjoyed doing and I would be getting a saddle made so that she could really go all out in running. Though it was honestly smoother than riding a horse, since she had so many legs.
The airport was rather small, all things considered, and fairly new. Travel by planes was seemingly something new, since most just used Pokemon. The ticket was insanely expensive, costing me forty thousand pokedollars. Thankfully at the time I had over a hundred thousand, thanks to the Association paying me again. But that was still incredibly expensive. And that was just one way. I didn’t buy a return flight ticket because I didn’t know when I would be heading back.
Security at the airport was both super lax, and extremely strict in a way that I was unprepared for. I found out later that the reason was because I was a Pokemon Expert that I was essentially just waved through most of the checks. All of the security measures were for my Pokemon, rather than me. Every Pokemon and their pokeball had to be thoroughly checked and scanned. They didn’t like that I was taking so many, but my identity really didn’t give them the option to deny me.
Unsurprisingly, Diancie caused the biggest fuss and got the most looks. I realized that this was the first time she had been displayed in public, not including the battle in the forest, and it was clear that she absolutely loved the attention. I could already tell my phone was going to explode with text messages as soon as we landed, and the Association was probably going to yell at the Professor.
Annoyingly there was a strict ‘No Pokemon on the Plane’ rule, and I had to reluctantly return Eevee to her pokeball, promising that I would release her the moment that I was allowed. It also occurred to me that I had not captured Goomy. But after explaining to her it was either be captured and come with, or be left behind, she readily agreed.
Yet even after all that, the most annoying thing was the actual flight. It was a fourteen hour flight, and there were hardly any people. I could have had my Pokemon out without problem, but I also understood that they didn’t want to risk damage to the plane. But with how much I paid, and how few people there were, you would think that they would have at least mildly decent food.
Vaguely I remembered that due to the altitude, things taste different. Which is why they served extra salty or spicy things. Or maybe I was just getting too used to my own cooking. In the last few months I had gotten a lot better at cooking, and I already thought I was pretty good.
The most interesting thing that happened during the flight was when one of the other passengers went to retrieve something from the overhead storage. I wouldn’t have paid it any mind, however when they did I was suddenly met with a rather familiar pair of purple eyes attached to a pink Pokemon. It seemed just as surprised to see me as I was to see it. I was too stunned to react for a moment, and then they closed the storage. Immediately I stood up and opened it back up, but they were gone.
The rest of the flight passed uneventfully, though I was constantly trying to see if I could spot the little thing somewhere on the plane. Either I was suffering from hallucinations due to my concussion, or they were just following me and were really good at it and remaining undetected. Espurr espionage? Eventually we landed, and I hadn’t seen the little cat again.
Stepping off the plane, where we had landed could barely be called an airport. It was more just an airstrip. Alola was apparently the newest member of the Association, and their teeth hadn’t properly sunk into this land yet. They had just started to become a hot tourist destination, which is why the ticket had been so expensive.
I immediately released Eevee, checking on her a moment to make sure she was alright before putting her in my hood. Then I released Goomy, since I felt like I was still bonding and earning the trust of the little slug. I held her in my arms for a moment, letting her know that everything was okay. She didn’t seem to like her first pokeball experience.
Once I was sure she was feeling alright again, I placed her up on my shoulder, allowing her to stick in a place where she could see around. All the other passengers had gathered their luggage and left at this point, and I looked up at the mountain. “Mmm… so this is Melemele.”
“That’s right,” a voice said from not so far away.
I turned and immediately recognized who was speaking. “Professor Burnet?” The woman who was in front of me was tanned skin, with white hair, and a gray tank top.
“Oh? Were you expecting someone else?” she asked, giving me a smirk.
“Honestly, yes.” I looked around, just to see if there was anyone else. “I was expecting your husband, or my so-called liaison.”
“Well, good news there, I am your liaison,” she said with a laugh. “Alola. As for my husband, he’s currently not on the island.” She looked me over, and I felt the way that Goomy flinched when she looked at her.
I reached up and gently squished the little slug. “It’s alright,” I said softly to her. “Alola,” I added, remembering that the word was both a greeting and a farewell.
“Augustine said you specialize in traumatized Pokemon, so I wonder what brings you here?” she asked, watching the interaction.
“I wouldn’t say that I specialize in them, but it is true that most of my Pokemon have trauma.” I reached into my coat for my only premier ball. “As for why I am here, there’s a few reasons. First, is this one.” Releasing Brionne, she made a happy noise, not liking having been in her pokeball for so long. I scooped her up, holding her in my arms. She was surprised, but nuzzled me, enjoying this particular show of affection. I should pick up my Pokemon more often, they seem to really like it.
“Oh? You have a Brionne? You-” realization dawned on her face and she snapped her fingers as she stopped speaking. Her mind raced for a moment. “You have a Brionne. Shit…” she mumbled, her own previous comment causing her to come to what was the correct conclusion. “Alright, come on.”
We both started walking, and she looked pissed. “I don’t really care who the Trainer was, or the mother, or the father. I’m here because I promised Brionne to show her the region she belonged to.” I had had a few discussions with the little seal about it all, and she seemed against finding out.
She didn’t answer as we got to her car and she walked around to the other side. I saw as she kicked the tire in annoyance before she got in and unlocked the door for me. “Alright. So some punk ditched her?” she said once I closed the door behind me, Brionne on my lap. She wasted no time in getting the car moving.
“Yes. He was annoyed that she didn’t have the ability he wanted. And then the aquarium…did not treat her well.” I was petting her softly as I spoke. And I could feel her shaking slightly at remembering it all. But she quickly settled down at my touch.
“Lap,” the little Pokemon said, looking up at me as if realizing where she was. I realized that I had only really ever placed Eevee on my lap. Were the others jealous that Eevee got spoiled more than they did? Probably.
I continued to rub her head and back. “Well at least she looks okay now…”
“I am very good with communicating with Pokemon, and I treat them very well,” I said with a smile down at Brionne.
“So, what else did you come here for?” she asked as we pulled into what appeared to be a mixture of laboratory and dockyard. The lab was very close to the airport. We could have just walked…
“I plan to take the Trials.”
There was a bit of a jolt from the car as her foot slipped. She remained silent for a moment until she finally parked, taking a deep breath. “The Trials, eh? Do you mind if I ask how you know about those?”
“Are they a secret?” I responded to her question with one of my own.
“Not necessarily, but we try to not spread it around. Especially to outsiders.”
I snorted. “That’s pretty closed minded of you, Professor.” I paused. “Or do you mean, you just don’t want the Association to know.” The frown on her face told me that I was correct. “Well you don’t have to worry about that. Honestly, I despise the Association, or at least almost every member I’ve had interactions with.”
Her frowning expression turned into one of confusion. “Oh?”
“They locked me in a room and bombarded me with the most difficult questions that they could think of for hours, in hopes of denying me my Pokemon Expert credentials. They made a rather pathetic attempt to seduce me with an attractive liaison, who has texted me-” I pulled out my phone. “Seven times since I left Kalos.”
She let out a soft giggle. “Perhaps she is just…overly enthusiastic about her job?”
“I would be much happier about the situation if that were the case. I don’t need multiple check-ins a day. And with how much she messages me you would think that she’d know a little about me but no, she has made no effort in getting to know me. Granted I have given her very little opportunity to do so, but all she does is ask me what I am doing, or where I am, or brags about the Association. That’s it. Those are the only things she talks about, other than the two times they have requested me as an expert. Not once has she asked about any of my Pokemon. And she is just straight up not my type, which I have tried to be blunt about having no interest in talking or interacting with her, but she still won’t stop texting me.” I continued my rant for a little bit, not having vented to this extent before.
To her credit, Professor Burnet didn’t interrupt me. Though I kind of wish she had.
With a sigh, I got out of the car before she could even say anything, holding Brionne in my arms. She was looking at me a bit concerned. “I’m fine,” I said, petting her a bit. “That plane ride really put me in a bad mood.”
“I’ll say it did,” the Professor said. “Come, I’ll show you to the area we keep the starters. Though we only have the breeders right now.” With that she led me over to the beach. I had expected to actually enter the building but instead we avoided it. We hadn’t even gotten onto the beach when I saw six Primarina playing in the water.
“They’re so pretty…” Brionne said, her eyes shining. Professor Burnet let out a whistle, which got all of their attention as they practically rushed the shore.
“Wow,” I muttered as they all quickly flopped over to us, happily greeting the Professor and asking a lot of questions about who I was and who I was holding. They knew immediately that it wasn’t one of theirs.
“Ah…how do I explain this…” the Professor said, glancing at me and Brionne. She knew what they were questioning her about.
“Allow me, Professor.” I stepped forward a bit towards them. “My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace. This is my Brionne.” I then went into an explanation of how I found the little seal, and what she had been through. It was also the Professor’s first time hearing the whole story, about how the aquarium was treating her. I had to stop several times to assure Brionne that things were okay. She really didn’t like remembering all of that.
By the time I had finished the rather short story, the Primarina were all upset. There were some accusations of whose daughter it must have been, and one of them seemed to accept that it was probably one of hers, though she was very reluctant to take that burden and was just as upset about it as the others. “Are you leaving her with us?” one of them asked.
“No,” I said immediately, shaking my head. “I’m keeping her. I just wanted her to see where her line comes from, and ask if you’d be willing to teach her some things that her mother didn’t.”
“Can she blow bubbles?” one asked.
Brionne turned a bit and blew a bubble, eager to show off. “Yeah I managed that, at least.” All six seals clapped at the show, much to Brionne’s delight. “I’m going to be on the islands for a few months. So, would you be willing to teach her?”
All six of them saluted. “Leave it to us!” one of them said happily as they moved closer to me. They weren’t trying to take Brionne, just get a better look at her.
I was more than happy to show her off to them. “Brionne, show them your special movement technique,” I said as I put her down.
It was obvious that she was extremely nervous. But after a few deep breaths she twisted a bit and used Water Gun to propel herself, launching herself quite a distance before using a bubble to soften her landing. She did a pose, having stuck the landing perfectly. Again there were a bunch of seal clappings and they immediately rushed over to ask her how she did that, and to show them again.
“That’s an impressive trick,” the Professor said, coming up to stand beside me.
“She worked hard on it. She wasn’t mobile enough in a fight, and so we had to come up with a method.” I looked at her. “Do you mind if I release my other Pokemon?”
“Oh no, of course,” she said and gestured for me to do so.
As I opened my coat, Rio burst out before I could even say anything. “Freedom!” She declared, her fists in the air.
I laughed and called everyone else out. Dee immediately started to check everyone over to make sure that everyone was in good condition. “You have a medical Pokemon?” the Professor asked, clearly flabbergasted.
“Yeah, I’m a Joy Clan approved Pokemon Expert,” I said, showing off my license that had the little Joy Clan mark on it. I introduced everyone to the Professor, but only Dee and Cara really gave any sort of respectful greeting.
Yet again it was Diancie who got the largest reaction from her. “Wow… a mythic Pokemon…” Of course Diancie absolutely loved the attention she was getting, twirling a bit and showing off how she shined in the sun. “You don’t see one of those every day.”
“Uh, well. I mean, I do,” I said with a bit of a laugh. Diancie came closer, wondering what I was laughing about. I just held out my hand so that she could play with my fingers, which seemed to be her favorite thing to do.
“Yanno I had my doubts when they said a Pokemon Expert was heading here,” the Professor said, looking at my group, who was now enjoying a sort of vacation on the beach after so many months of hard work. Suddenly she nodded as if making up her mind about something. “Alright. I’ll help you get permission to do the Trials, but in exchange I want some help with something.”
I arched an eyebrow at her. “Depending on what it is, I would be more than willing to help. Just know that I help Pokemon, I don’t really help people.”
She arched an eyebrow back at me. “Is there a difference?”
“There’s a big difference.” I sighed a bit before continuing. “I’m not going to do anything that would be detrimental to Pokemon.”
There was a pause before she asked, “But you would do things that are detrimental to humans?”
I shook my head. “No, I just wouldn’t stop anything.”
There was a frown on her face but after a moment she nodded. “Alright… I think I can work with that,” she said with a chuckle. “Before I talk about my request, I want to make sure that as a Pokemon Expert, you can solve any problem when it comes to Pokemon? That wasn’t just random hype?”
I had no idea who would say such a thing about me, but I responded, “I believe that I could at least come up with a solution, even if I might not be able to implement it myself.”
“Even if it involved one of the Tapu?” she asked, folding her arms.
That caused me to pause for a moment. “One of the Guardian Deities?” She arched a brow at my response, but I had to think about it. Could I solve a problem with a legendary Pokemon? “Maybe…” I said slowly. “Depending on who it was and what the problem was.”
“It involves Tapu Bulu.”
My brow furrowed as I tried to search my memories for what sort of problem that could be. “Tapu Bulu…” I muttered. “Does this have to do with the destruction of Tapu Village?”
The way her expression immediately turned into one of shock told me I’d guessed right. “What- How-”
“Deductive reasoning,” I lied.
She stared at me for a moment before finally finding her voice. “Yes. It does. You see… the Association built a thrifty megamart-”
“On sacred grounds, and in response Tapu Bulu destroyed the town and left the mart in ruins,” I finished.
She let out a huff. “Are you going to let me explain the problem, or not?”
I chuckled softly, waving my hand. “Sorry, sorry. Continue.”
“Yes, well, Tapu Bulu didn’t destroy the megamart, but left it in really rough shape. And now there’s a bunch of talk about things happening in the area.”
“Probably ghosts,” I said with a shrug.
“Yes, well, it seems a bit more extreme than just ghost Pokemon,” she said with a sigh. Obviously this was an annoying thing that she didn’t want to deal with. “And no one I have asked will go and investigate the place.”
I snorted softly. “So you want me to… what? Go in and rattle some cans? Throw some salt?”
She stared blankly at me for a moment, though I could see the corner of her mouth was up slightly in the slightest of amused smirks. “I just want proper confirmation of what’s happening.”
I looked at her for a moment. “Cara,” I called over my shoulder. “Scoly, Rio, Dee. Come over here real quick.”
All of them quickly jogged over. “What’s up?” Cara asked, eying the Professor suspiciously. Still untrusting of humans.
“We’re going on a quick mission. Rio, Scoly, Dee, I need you to watch everyone.” I pulled out a blanket from my bag, laying it on the sand. I laid Eevee down, before setting Goomy down beside her. Both of them looked reluctant. “It’s alright. I’ll be back before dinner,” I said as I pet both of them. I learned my lesson with taking Eevee on missions that might involve combat, since I was a soft target.
“I’m coming with you?” Cara asked.
“Unless you want to stay, and Rio can come with me. A common pairing with ghosts is poison, and you both are immune.” I never knew until this moment that a Lucario could look pale. “I can’t take Scoly because of her size.”
The large bug immediately narrowed her eyes at me. “I’m not that big.”
“You’re like, four times bigger than me, Scoly,” I said with a chuckle, reaching out and rubbing the top of her head. “You’re wonderfully huge. And I don’t think the building would last against your special technique.”
She gave me a huff before turning and walking away.
“Mom doesn’t want to go,” Rio said with a bit of a smirk. “So I’ll protect you.” She thumped her chest.
I looked over at Cara. She immediately looked defensive. “What?” She folded her arms and looked away. “I don’t like ghosts…”
I laughed and gave her a pat on the head. “Alright, take care of everyone for me, okay? Rio, you’re with me.”
“What about your Diancie?” the Professor asked as we started to make our way over to the marina.
“If I take her, there won’t be a building standing when she’s done.” While gravity is a psychic move and would be very effective against the ghosts, I didn’t know how structurally sound the building was. She was developing this bad habit of trying to make her Gravity cover as big of an area as possible, while also making it as heavy as possible. If she concentrated it, she could get up to twenty times ten feet from her. But she could spread ten times Gravity nearly fifty feet now.
I also wasn’t sure I wanted people to know what she was capable of. She was my secret weapon. “Well, if you’re sure. Should take less than an hour to get to Ula’ula,” she said as she hopped up onto one of the boats.
“Good. This shouldn’t take too long.”
The ride took about forty five minutes, and I was reminded that I wasn’t very good on boats. My problems with water and motion sickness made an awful combo, but thankfully it wasn’t too bad and I didn’t throw up. While we made our trip I tried to think of a few things. The first being, where is Acerola? She should be in charge of one of Ula’ula’s Trial, and that Trial involves the megamart. Was she still at the Aether House? Was that just a game thing, or was I too early in the timeline? I had to be too early, since it sounded like the megamart was a fairly recent thing.
Although actually seeing it, it did not look like a recent thing at all. But it was in surprisingly good shape. Even the windows were fine. “How long ago did it happen?” I asked, standing within the parking lot, the Professor on my left, and Rio on my right.
“A little over a year ago? It was never even opened. They were waiting on the rest of the stock to ship in,” the Professor explained.
“I still don’t know what you expect me to do,” I said with a sigh as I started up towards the building. It was definitely more like the anime than in the game. Just an absolutely huge building, almost mall sized.
“J- Just check it out, you know? Make sure there aren’t any- any violent ghosts...” the Professor stammered, doing her best to keep her composure but it was clear that she was slipping.
I glanced back at her. She looked nervous and a bit pale. As I got to the building, I knelt down, looking at the concrete pillars. I changed major’s before I got my engineering degree, but I knew enough to judge that it was most likely structurally sound, there at least weren’t any major cracks to be worried about. Plus it was still standing far later in the anime so I’m sure it was fine. I gave the glass a tap with my knuckle, finding that it wasn’t made of glass, but some sort of thick acrylic. That explained why none of the windows were broken. They were also covered on the inside, blocking anyone from seeing inside.
As the other two approached, I caught a glimpse of something peeking out through the nearby pillar. It was gone before I could focus to see what it was. “Alright, let’s go take a look inside then,” I said as I made my way to the door. It was an automatic sliding door, but the automatic part was either broken or turned off. Thankfully, as long as it’s not locked, they’re really easy to just slide open.
Inside was a desolate shopping center, without people or much product. I also couldn’t see any ghosts, but I could see plenty of little things shifting. “You’re just… gonna walk in?” The Professor asked, sticking close behind me.
“Yeah?” I looked at her and it was at that moment that I realized that I was doing her job for her. She was obviously supposed to check out this place and was too scared to do it. “If you’re too scared, you can wait outside,” I said as I walked in, making my way to the checkout counters.
“Wh-what? No. Of- of course not. Why would I be scared?” she said, following after me.
“Uh… Jace… This place is pretty spooky,” Rio said, quickly following so that she wouldn’t get left behind.
“It’s fine,” I said with a bit of a smile. “Ghost Pokemon are just like any other Pokemon. Well, not exactly.”
Without another word, I ducked down, hiding behind the counter. As I did, a purple ghostly figure shot up, making a face at Rio and the Professor.
They screamed, immediately clinging to each other.
Immediately the figure that had burst forth exploded into laughter, pointing at them like it was the funniest thing it had ever seen. Slowly I rose up behind it, a bit of a smirk on my face. “Oh Haunter…” I said softly. It froze for a moment, and then I watched as it counted one, then two, and then looked for three. Slowly it began turning around. Just before it could completely face me, I got really close before flicking on my flashlight under my chin, pointing it upwards to illuminate my face. “Boo!”
It screamed in an almost primal way as if it had never been more scared for its life than at that moment. The noise was like a strangled train whistle. It leaped back and hid behind the other two, clinging to them as they also screamed.
I couldn’t hold it in and practically cackled as I turned my flashlight off, pointing at the terrified Pokemon. “What sort of noise is that?” I cried out, trying to get my laughter under control. “Oh jeez…” I had to actually wipe away a tear I was laughing so hard, before putting my flashlight away. “Oh man, I got you good.”
The haunter huffed, and puffed at me, sticking out its tongue to blow a raspberry. Before floating off it gave me a grin, disappearing from sight. “What the heck was that for!” the Professor exclaimed. Her and Rio were still clinging to each other.
“Oh come on, it’s just a bit of fun. Most ghost Pokemon are playful and like little jokes like that. Especially the Haunter line. They like their jumpscares.” I watched as the Professor pat her chest, as if trying to restart her heart, Rio was mimicking the motion. I turned away from them, looking at the shopping center. “Well, I can honestly confirm this is a ghost nexus.”
“Ghost nexus?” she asked.
I swiftly moved over to them, standing behind them as I started to point things out. “Look, see the movement over there? That’s a few ghosts playing.” I pointed to a different spot. “Those are some Shuppet exploring those isles.” I gestured to the counter that I had hid behind. “There’s a Klefki under the counter here.”
“Okay?” She looked at me with a questioning look. “But what’s a ghost nexus?”
“To put it simply, it’s a place that draws ghosts to it.” I walked back over to the counter, and knelt down to scoop up the Klefki who made a few annoyed little clink noises at me. I just pulled off one of the sheets covering the register, showing it the metal underneath. It happily began to mess with it. “There’s a ton of ghost energy in this place, which draws in ghosts. More ghosts mean bigger nexus. Bigger nexus means stronger ghosts.”
“How strong is this one?” Burnet asked, suddenly quite interested in what I was doing.
“Depends,” I said as I looked around, moving past the counters. “If that Haunter is the strongest one in here, then it’s not a very strong nexus. But…” I was trying to get a better angle to see if I could catch a glimpse of any stronger Pokemon. “If there’s a Gengar, or Banette, then it’s pretty strong.”
As if on cue, I spotted a pair of pink eyes and a gold zipper. Our eyes locked for a moment as it studied me. “Is it bad if the nexus is stronger?” the Professor asked as she came over. Rio was still staring wide eyed at everything around her, clinging to the Professor.
“No more than any other place where lots of strong Pokemon gather,” I said as I looked over to the two of them. “Is there anything else you want to look at?”
She shook her head, looking around. “No, I think that’s- is that a Pikachu?”
Immediately I whirled around and my focus immediately snapped to the yellow thing that was sleeping in a sort of nest on one of the shelves. In response to the words of the Professor, its head seemed to slowly rotate, making a sort of crickling and crackling noise like sticks being twisted and broken. Both Rio and the Professor, who had been making their way towards it, froze on the spot.
However I couldn’t help but smile, walking a bit towards it. “Hello Mimikyu,” I said softly, crouching down near the shelf, and looking the Pokemon over. “My, you have quite a wonderful costume. It looks so good.”
“Th-that’s not a Pikachu,” Rio said, clinging tighter to the Professor.
“A- a- a-” the Professor was struggling to form words.
However, at my words, the Mimikyu had perked up, looking almost bashful as I complimented it. “Th-thank you. I m-made it my-myself,” the little thing stammered.
“Oh, you’re very skilled.” I couldn’t get the smile off my face if I wanted to. Mimikyu was honestly an adorable Pokemon, and I was actually struggling with the urge to not just snatch them up and take them with me. “My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace.” I offered my hand.
Slowly from under the costume came a rather large shadow hand which slowly reached out, hesitantly grabbing my hand. “My- my name… is Mikyu.”
“Mikyu,” I repeated, smiling even more. “It’s wonderful to meet you.” I had planned to just sort of give the little thing a sort of handshake, but it took the initiative and actually pulled itself up to sit on my hand. I should have expected them to not know what a handshake was. Without really thinking about it, I pulled the little doll into a hug. “Oh you’re just so adorable. Look at you.”
It made a little noise of surprise, but what surprised me was when it suddenly wrapped its arms around me, hugging me back. It squeezed probably a bit too tightly, as I heard a bit of creaking sticks, but it wasn’t enough to actually break one and cause a problem.
As I turned I could see both the Professor and Rio staring at me in horror. “Well? What were you saying, Professor? Nothing else?”
“I-” she seemed to find her voice. “What is that?”
“This is a Mimikyu. A ghost fairy type. Because it's true form is weak to sunlight, and can cause fatalities if looked at directly, it makes a costume to hide itself in order to make friends,” I explained, rubbing the side of the little Pokemon, wondering if it could feel through the cloth. “Most of them choose to emulate Pikachu, due to its popularity. And I think this one’s done just such an amazing job at their costume that it even fooled you, Professor.”
As I was talking about them, Mikyu had shifted around to face the Professor. “I’m M- Mikyu,” she said with a bow, which caused some crackling.
“Sounds like you need some new material for your neck?” I mused, looking down. All I got was some rather crackly nods that caused a shiver to run down my spine. I nodded back. “Alright, let’s get out of here now, okay?”
We started to walk back, and Mikyu suddenly looked a bit panicked. “Y-you’re leaving?”
“Yes, we are,” I said with a bit of a smile, clearly making no effort to put them down.
“M-me too?”
Looking down at them I smiled. “Do you want to stay here?” They rapidly shook their head, which sounded like a tree branch twisting on a stormy night. “Then yes, you too. I’ve always wanted a Mimikyu to be my friend.” Suddenly I felt them squeezing me tightly again.
Suddenly my hand was grasped. At first I thought it was Rio, or maybe Burnet, but I realized that they were ahead of me and already outside. When I looked down, instead I saw the same pink eyes and gold zipper looking up at me. They were looking at the way that I was holding Mikyu.
I smiled a bit. “You too?” I asked, and they nodded. Leaning down a bit, I scooped them up. After that I made a quick exit, else I somehow caught the attention of another Pokemon that wants to go with me.
The Professor just stared at me for a moment when I was finally outside.
With a frown, I turned away a bit to block the two Pokemon from her sight. “Mine. Get your own family members.”
To my surprise, Rio came over and hugged onto my side. I put Mikyu on my shoulder so that I could rub the jackal's head. “That was so freakin’ scary,” she said softly, burying her face in my coat. “I can see why mama is afraid of ghosts…”
I laughed, continuing to pet her. “Well, now our family has two of them. So she’s just going to have to get used to it.” With a smile I looked over at the Professor, who looked quite a bit frazzled from the whole ordeal. “What’s next, professor? Got any upset Vulpix around?” I said with a joking tone, though there was no way that I could say no to an ice fox.
In response, she simply stared at me.
“Wait… is there?” I asked, now a lot more serious.
“Sort of…”
On the way to the Pokecenter, I offered pokeballs to Mikyu and Banette, explaining that they had to be captured if they wanted to come with me. I also explained that I would keep them outside of their pokeballs as often as I could. Both of them hardly hesitated when I told them they couldn’t come with me otherwise.
When we reached the Pokecenter, I was not surprised to find a certain pink haired individual. “Alola, Nurse Joy,” I said with a smile.
It took her a moment before her eyes went wide. “Ah! You’re Jace! Alola! My cousin told me all about you.” She moved around the counter to shake my hand, much to my surprise. Even her Comfey came over, excited to see me.
“Ah, am I really that popular?”
“Of course,” she said with a nod. “My cousin who works at the Kalos ranch made such a fuss when the Association tried to deny your expert status. She actually threatened them. Said she’d cut Association service.”
I laughed a bit awkwardly. “Goodness, I didn’t think I made that much of an impression.”
“Well, everything that every Joy has said about you has been good. An amnesiac who has a way with Pokemon,” she said in an almost dreamy way, but then seemed to catch her blunder. “Ah-”
I put up a hand. “It’s alright. I’ve kind of… well, come to terms with it.”
She nodded slowly. Without lowering my hand, I reached over and rubbed the side of the Comfey’s face, smiling as the little thing let out a giggle and shied away from me. “See? Pokemon like you.”
“Yes,” I said with a chuckle.
“Not to interrupt, but we do have business,” Professor Burnet interjected.
“Ah, right, of course,” Nurse Joy said, blushing a bit as she realized she got carried away. “What can I help you with?”
“We’re here to see the special case.”
Nurse Joy suddenly made a rather sullen face and then nodded. “Alright. She’s out this way.”
Out behind the pokecenter I saw the most one sided battle imaginable. On one side was an Alolan Vulpix, and on the other was an Absol, battling in a hail battered field. Even though the Absol was obviously taking it easy on the Vulpix, there was only so much that the little ice Pokemon could do. Her left ear was torn, the eye on that side looked damaged with three scars running down her face, and her front left leg was gone. Just…gone. She was scarred all across her left side, and was even missing two tails on that side.
But I could see it. That sort of determination of refusing to give up. She wanted to fight, in spite of her condition. I could tell that she had some actual training, though minimal. The problem was the Absol wasn’t attacking, just defending, as if it was afraid that it would hurt her. She was actually doing a fairly good job now that I was watching. It just looked like she hadn’t gotten used to the missing limb, but when she got her footing it didn’t slow her down.
But it was clear that the Absol was extremely well trained and probably had more than a decade of experience on her. It could read her movements, even if they were fast, and was able to easily dodge everything she threw at it. “Okay, that’s enough!” Nurse Joy called out, her voice rather casual, as if she was calling them to lunch.
Almost immediately the hailstorm ended, and the two of them came over. “I’m sorry, Nurse Joy, but I just don’t know how to teach her,” the Absol said when they got over. “She’s got that spirit, and good battle instincts, but I just don’t know how to help.”
Nurse Joy pat the Absol. “It’s alright. I know you did your best.”
The Vulpix however just kicked at the accumulated hail with her good leg, obviously frustrated. “I’ve brought someone who I think can help,” the Professor explained to the Absol. This got the Vulpix’s attention. “This is Jason, a Pokemon Expert. He specializes in helping Pokemon.”
The Absol looked me up and down. “I’m not sure-”
“You can help?” The Vulpix butted in, practically knocking the Absol out of the way.
I knelt down, holding out my hands to the Vulpix. “Let me get a good look at you.”
There was a bit of hesitation, which was to be expected. But it eventually came closer so that I could get a good look as she sat down in front of me. I examined the wounds, being as gentle as I could. “She got attacked a few months ago. Her Trainer… was in bad shape and couldn’t continue. He’s still in the hospital, and gave her up. He probably won’t ever walk again, but he’s alive thanks to her.”
The Vulpix immediately glared at the Professor, obviously pissed that her Trainer gave her up. I wasn’t sure if that was because she didn’t understand that she wouldn’t be able to battle if she had stayed with him, or if she was just mad that he abandoned her in general. She probably thinks that he didn’t want her because of her injuries. The truth was he probably didn’t have a choice and it was his parents that did it.
“This was done by a Weavile,” I said after a moment. “Several of them.”
Vulpix nodded. “There were four.”
“Can you see out of this eye?” I asked, waving a finger in front of her left eye.
“Yeah, it’s a bit blurry sometimes, but if I blink a few times it goes back to normal.” She blinked several times to demonstrate.
“Minor damage to the outer lens. That should heal eventually,” I said with a bit of a nod. “Does it hurt anywhere? Even if I touch it?” I started to touch over the worst of the looking scars, looking for a reaction.
But she shook her head. “No. It did for a while, though. I couldn’t even lay down.”
I had to admit it looked like she was healing nicely. “What’s your name? My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace.”
“Keo,” she said, sounding a bit sad. Her Trainer probably gave her that name.
“Okay, Keo.” I sat down on the ground in front of her. “I’m confident that I can train you to become powerful, but it’s going to be hard. Harder than any sort of training you’ve done in the past.”
She looked down at where her missing leg was. “Even…with this?” There was even a little stump that she wiggled.
I furrowed my brow. “Why would that stop you from getting strong?”
“I hear them talking,” she said, grinding her paw into the slowly melting hail that was left on the ground. I didn’t look over, but I saw the way that Absol looked away out of the corner of my eye.
“Well, who cares what they think. Who’s the Pokemon Expert here?” I said, sitting up a bit straighter.
“You?” she questioned.
“That’s right. Me. I’m the Expert. And if I say you can be strong, that means you can be strong.” I smiled at her. “As long as you work with me, and listen to me, you can become strong.”
Her tails wagged a bit and she sat up straighter to match me. “Right!” Without another word, she practically jumped onto my lap. “I wanna be super strong!”
I smiled even more as I started to pet her, which I could tell she immediately started to enjoy. People had probably been too scared to pet her because of her injuries. “Here’s her pokeball,” Nurse Joy said with a smile as she handed it to me.
“Thank you, Nurse Joy.” I took it, and tucked it into my coat. “Now then, Professor. I think we should head back.” I stood up, picking up Vulpix as I did. I had a bunch of new family members to introduce when we got back.
Chapter 8
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Lucario - Daughter of Cara
Whirly - Whirlipede - EVOLVED Scoly - Scolipede - Adopted daughter of Cara
Brionne - Brionne - Rescued from aquarium
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Taken from Pokecenter
Goomy - Goomy - Clinging for dear life
NEW Mikyu - Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart
NEW Banette - Banette - Collected from the Supermart
NEW Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - Taken from Pokecenter
Chapter Text
“Mmnnn…why ghosts?” Cara mumbled, eying two of the three new members.
I couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction. Eevee was sitting in my lap while Goomy sat on my shoulder. Vulpix had joined Rio in meeting the rest of Team Speed Shell. I could also hear the bipedal canine excitedly recounting how brave I was back in the megamart to the group. Mikyu and Banette were leaning against my side, seemingly content. Brionne was still out with the Primarina learning how to be a seal; I wasn’t sure she even noticed we left.
Diancie and Dee were digging a hole. It was good to see that Diancie was getting along with someone. I had noticed that she seemed to just watch others do things. She had just been confused when I asked her about it. Though I was a bit curious how that became their little bonding activity. I did have to admit it was cute.
“They’re just little cuties,” I said as I pet the two stuffed Pokemon, who were sitting on the coat that I had laid beside me. As I looked at the two little ghost Pokemon at my side, I thought quite a bit about them. Honestly Banette’s personality surprised me the most. Since according to the pokedex entries from the game they were supposed to be abandoned toys given life through the grudge of being abandoned. But that didn’t really make sense since they were the evolution of Shuppet; a Pokemon that fed off negative emotions.
Cara let out a soft sigh. “Alright. Fine. Three new girls to the family,” she said as she sat down behind me, leaning back against me.
“See? There you go. Don’t think of them as ghosts. They’re just new members of the family,” I said with a smile, leaning back against her. I realized that she was leaning quite heavily against me, her back was quite warm. “Tired?” I asked softly, looking at her over my shoulder.
“It’s exhausting to keep them all from getting bored…” she admitted. “And I thought just the two of them were difficult when they were little... Oh how naive I was.”
I laughed. “Well, it looks like you did a decent job.”
With amusement, I watched as Mikyu curiously wandered closer to Cara, slowly making her way into the lap of the canine. I could feel the muscles in Cara’s back tense for a moment before relaxing, and she hesitantly began to pet the thing in her lap.
“Mikyu did a really good job on her costume, didn’t she?” I couldn’t get a good look, but Mikyu looked pleased at the attention.
Cara just nodded. I had introduced all three of them at the same time, and had emphasized Mikyu’s special nature and the reason for her costume. I had been rather surprised to find out from the Professor during the trip back that Mimikyu was a completely unknown Pokemon to her. She had made quite a few phone calls as a result, only to be surprised that no one had information on it.
It was apparently a new Pokemon. That I had just casually gone and picked up, while explaining it in detail to the Professor. When she had asked how I knew so much, I told her that I was from a different world. She had scoffed at me, complaining that if I didn’t want to tell her, I didn’t have to make stuff up.
Not my fault she didn’t believe me.
Banette drew my attention as she shifted to lay her head on my leg. I used my free hand to gently start rubbing her head. She really just felt like a plush doll. Soft with that sort of false warmth that came from how the material reflected heat. She looked up at me for a moment before grabbing hold of my hand and just sort of hugging onto my arm.
A sudden thought entered my head, though I’m not quite sure where it came from. There were lots of Shuppet’s in that place, but no people. What were they feeding on? Why were they gathered there? Both Banette and Shuppet were supposed to be inanimate object type Pokemon. Had toys been one of the things that was already stocked? That would make sense since they’re goods that don’t expire.
So… from what my knowledge was telling me, due to the influx of ghost type energy, some of the toys were transformed into Pokemon. So this Banette had been abandoned in a different way, and never actually experienced getting thrown away. Instead she was left to rot on a shelf.
I had to close my eyes for a moment. That was a weird experience. The more time I spent, the more I realized that I really did seem to have some sort of knowledge based power. While I might have come to some sort of conclusion if I thought about it long enough and gathered information, the way that this information had just come into my head as if it was a fact that I already knew was interesting.
And concerning. Interesting and concerning. It was concerning because that knowledge felt like my own. It was more like remembering something than being told something. I was going to have to stop thinking about it before I had some sort of identity crisis.
The sun was starting to make its way down, and I quickly did a headcount. Twelve including me. First thing was to do a quick nature test on the three new members. Keo liked spicy, and surprisingly didn’t like sweet, so she had a brave nature. I expected Mikyu and Banette to have a lonely nature, and while I was right about Banette, Mikyu actually liked bitter and disliked sour. That meant her nature was gentle.
Something I found interesting as I watched Banette, was that she had a mouth above the zipper. Where I had thought that the zipper was keeping her mouth closed, it was actually more accurate to say that it was her lower lip. Or perhaps it was her lower teeth and her mouth was just always open. I wasn’t sure. The zipper could also move around, as I saw it doing so sometimes.
I called Dee over to help with the food, and to my surprise Banette actually got up to help me as well. What surprised me even more was how quickly she took to food prep. Then Mikyu joined in as well, the two of them using their shadow claws to great efficiency once I told them what they needed to do and how to do it.
It wasn’t until I was starting to pass out portions that Brionne returned, in probably the best mood I had ever seen her. She had leapt onto my back, wrapping her flippers around me to hang on as she began to excitedly talk about her day. Apparently she still had a lot to learn. Because she was abandoned so young, there were some rather basic things she didn’t know how to do, or wasn’t very good at. Like swimming in deep water and survival skills.
She also didn’t know how to use moves very well under water, which is apparently what they spent most of the day doing. The bull Primarina apparently didn’t like coming to the beach and there was an underwater cave system that he lived in. According to Brionne he was huge and covered in scars. Apparently he got into a fight with a pack of Gyarados last year, and though he won, it put him out of commission for a while as far as fighting was concerned. She then went on to meet the three new members as we all had dinner.
I wanted to see how our new members reacted to the food, so I paid close attention to them. I didn’t expect it to work some sort of miracle on Keo, but I figured it would at least maybe heal some internal injuries. She absolutely loved the food and ate like it would disappear if she took her eyes off it. Mikyu was the most subdued in her reaction, though I could see the way that she got a sort of shine from her eye slits after the first bite.
Banette had an interesting and rather concerning reaction, her eyes watering slightly. And it wasn’t just from the spice of the food. I think it was at that moment when she started to eat and saw everyone eating around her that she realized she was one of us. Though she didn’t start crying, I could see her sniffling a bit to fight back the tears.
It was as we were eating that the Professor showed back up. “Alola. That’s quite a lot of food,” she commented, seeing them all indulge. “What is that?”
“Special curry,” I said in between bites of my own food. “Alola.”
“Do you feed them this every night?” she asked, looking at some of the cooking pots. I had overestimated how much I needed to make so there was a bit left over.
“Every night we’re not in a Pokecenter,” I continued my explanation. “They also get a pokeblock in the morning, and in the afternoon, and then one after dinner.”
She turned to me with quite a perplexed expression. “Every day? Those must get extremely expensive.”
“I make them,” I said before turning my attention back to my food. “After the initial investment of a blender and pokeblock machine, it’s not that much to make them.”
Her face scrunched up a bit. “Those recipes are pretty complicated and hard to get. We outsource ours to breeders.” She paused. “Do you make them to suit every Pokemon’s individual tastes? Not just dietary requirements?”
“I do, I think it’s important if you want them to be strong and happy. Keo, Banette, and Eevee may all like spicy food, but each of them need slight additions to their actual dish. And the same goes with pokeblocks.” I explained while I finished off my curry. “Eevee is still recovering from being sick, so she needs a lot more nutrients in her pokeblocks to help facilitate that. But Keo has internal injuries and is going to require a different mix to help her recovery.”
The Professor looked over at Keo, a bit of a concerned expression. “Internal injuries? Did they not completely heal her at the Pokecenter?”
“I’m sure they were in the process, but it’s just like me.” I tapped the side of my head. “I’m still suffering from the long term effects of a concussion. Not all injuries can be immediately fixed, even at a Pokecenter.” This wasn’t like the games where things would just magically be healed back to one hundred percent. This was evident by the fact I was still affected by my concussion. It wasn’t that serious, it just meant that I was more susceptible to getting another concussion.
“A head injury sure explains a lot,” she said with a nod. Several Pokemon nodded.
“Hey,” I said indignantly, which just caused everyone to laugh.
She was still laughing when she continued, “Well, if you can make pokeblocks, then you sure know your stuff about the diets of Pokemon.”
I thought about it a moment and then shrugged. Each recipe was about a page or two, so it was a bit time consuming. “You can have some of the curry if you want- ah but avoid that one unless you really like spicy stuff.” I gestured to the pot containing the remnants of the spiciest curry.
Curiously she tried some, and immediately regretted it. Her entire face immediately went red, and desperately went for the water that I offered her. “That is! Way too! Hot!” she complained, trying to soothe her burned mouth.
Several Pokemon were snickering, or just straight up laughing from the display. “I warned you.”
“I like spicy food,” she argued. “But that was… way more.” She was actually fanning herself, her face having gone quite red. “What did you even put in that?”
“It’s a spicy curry mix, with cheri and touga berries.” I had been rather surprised to find the berries that used those weird e-reader things, but they were apparently a thing. Touga were extremely spicy, so much that even making those curries made my eyes water. If I had to equate them to anything from my previous world, they were like ghost peppers but worse, but not quite as hot as the hottest peppers.
“Okay, that explains the heat.” She seemed to calm down a bit. “Pokemon have a much higher tolerance than we do. So since you're making the curry catered to their taste, you have to take it to as extreme as possible.”
I nodded. “Exactly.”
She gestured at my plate. “And what about you? What are you eating?”
“A mixture from three pots,” I said as I pointed them out, “The sweet one, dry, and sour. And like less than half a spoonful from the spicy pot.”
After my explanation she got a plate and joined us all to eat. Even though most Pokemon had finished, some of them, like Scoly and Diancie, were slow eaters. I was glad that I had taught them how to wash their own plates, though it was mostly Brionne doing the cleaning while everyone else just tried not to get wet. She found it hilarious.
“Did you have any plans for lodging?” the Professor asked after having her dishes cleaned, having barely gotten wet from Brionne’s little game.
“Pokecenter. Or camping out,” I responded, also having gotten my plate clean. I was less lucky than the Professor and got pretty wet.
She nodded. “Well, our Pokecenters don’t have lodgings. But you’re free to camp out here on the beach.”
I smiled a bit and nodded. “Thank you. Ah, before you leave I wanted to ask you about something.”
“I’ll schedule a meeting with the Kahuna tomorrow. I’ve got to go explain the situation to him.”
“Oh it wasn’t about that.” I laughed softly, glad that things would be moving fairly quickly. “I actually wanted to talk about pokebeans.”
She stared at me for a moment. “What about them?”
“I wanted to get a bunch,” I said as I started to pull out my camping things. “Maybe some sprouts?” Seeing me starting to set up camp, Dee and Cara came over to assist.
“Hm…well, getting you a bunch of pokebeans wouldn’t be difficult. Although I do have to warn you that they don’t really grow well in other climates.” She put a hand under her chin as she thought about it.
It wasn’t like I actually had a place to grow them. I just wanted to know how open to the idea she was. Berry farms were apparently a rather heavily monitored thing, and you had to have special permission to set one up. The Association didn’t want the price of berries to tank, as it would hurt their pokeblock monopoly. “I’m sure I could figure something out.”
Greenhouses were an extremely under utilized technology in this world. They did exist, but they were for the purpose of keeping and raising grass Pokemon rather than growing plants. The problem would be getting a location, but with how much money I was going to be making and the fact I was in no hurry let me plan for something like that.
Now that the tent was properly set up, I took a look at what everyone was doing. To my not surprise, Rio was being ganged up on in another play fight. However her opponents were now a very large bug horse, an icy fox, and to my actual surprise, a little dragon slug. The three of them were actually giving her quite a hard time, though it was mostly Scoly that was batting her around. I could hear her complaining that no one was on her side.
Eevee, Banette, and Mikyu were sitting on the blanket watching the ocean, which Brionne was out in, playing and doing a few new tricks she had learned. Diancie was also out on the water, though not actually in it, seemingly enjoying helping to throw the little seal high up into the air so that she could do more flips and twists.
Cara and Dee had gone over to sit on the blanket once the tent was up, split between watching Brionne show off and the battle. “I’m glad they all get along…” I said softly.
“Hm?” Professor Burnet looked over at me, and then out at the Pokemon. “You’ve got quite a lot of them.”
I chuckled a bit at that and nodded. “Yeah… And I’m going to have so many more.”
She arched a brow at me. “How many do you plan to get?”
I paused, thinking about it for a moment before I shrugged. “A hundred? Maybe more?” I said with a laugh. “Someday I’ll have a huge ranch full of hundreds of Pokemon of all sorts and regions.”
“That’s a pretty lofty goal,” she said with a chuckle.
“Yeah. But wouldn’t it be wonderful?” I waved my hand in a vague sort of sweeping motion. “Pokemon that I love as far as the eye can see, all living happily.”
There was a moment of silence before she nodded. “It would be nice. But the Association would never let that happen. You’d be too much of a threat.”
“Screw the Association,” I scoffed. “I’ll just go find a big island and make my own country if I have to.” I suddenly realized that that might not actually be a bad idea. Professor Sycamore said there were a lot of places that weren’t under the Association… I could just find some place.
“That’s very dangerous talk,” she said, still laughing a bit. Clearly she was taking everything I said as an over exaggerated joke, but the more I thought about it the more it sounded like a good idea. Not something I could do within the next ten or twenty years, but maybe someday.
“Oh for sure,” I said as I joined in on the laughter, but for other reasons.
“Alright, I’m going to go talk to the Kahuna now. I’ll swing by tomorrow. Alola,” she said as she turned and made her way back towards the research center, or whatever the building we were next to was.
“Alola,” I said with a bit of a smile before I opened the tent, momentarily being startled by the sheer size of the inside before remembering. “You’d think I would get used to that…” I muttered as I moved in, putting down the large amount of bedding that I had slowly been buying.
With more Pokemon came the need for a larger sleeping area. The ground wasn’t particularly comfortable, but with enough padding I could sleep anywhere. “Is it sleep time?” came a soft voice.
I turned back to see Eevee, who was slowly making her way into the tent. Her footing seemed unstable, and her legs shook a bit every now and then. “Not yet,” I said softly before sitting down and pulling her into my lap.
She let out a sigh of relief at not needing to stand. “This place is nice…” she said softly, looking out of the open tent flap. It was rare for her to talk, but as her jaw got better it became easier for her to do so.
“Yeah… I’ve always wanted to come here.” I started to pet her and she pressed into my hand. She’d gotten so much more affectionate lately. A few minutes passed as we sat, watching the other Pokemon play in the slowly dimming light. “Eevee?”
“Mm?” she made a little noise, letting me know she was still awake.
“What do you want to do?” I asked, gently rubbing her side.
She looked up at me, tilting her head to the side.
I smiled down at her. “I mean, when you get better, what do you want to do? Do you want to battle? Do you want to just be a lap Pokemon? Evolve? Maybe-” I hesitated a moment before taking a deep breath, “Find your previous owner?”
Her ears drooped back and she put her head down. “I don’t think I want that…”
“It’s okay…” I said softly, pushing my fingers into her mane and using them to brush out her fur. “I just want to know what you want to do. What sort of future you want.” Thinking about my own future plans had made me think of the little brown fluff.
“Future?” she muttered, not quite understanding what I meant.
“What you want to do. Like, if you want to evolve there are quite a number of things we would have to plan for,” I explained. “If you wanted to be a Flareon, we’d need to get a fire stone. Or a leaf stone for a Leafeon. Or we can work on a friendship evolution, like Espeon or Umbreon, or Sylveon.”
She seemed to mull it over in her head, though she seemed quite confused, or conflicted. Maybe both.
“Of course you don’t need to decide now, or anytime soon.” I rubbed the side of her face and she leaned into my hand. “You’ve got lots of time.”
“I don’t like being sick…” she mumbled.
I scratched behind her ears, smiling down at her. “You’ll get better. You’re getting better.” She closed her eyes as I rubbed and pet her. I had a feeling she was going to be a lap Pokemon.
While I had the time I decided to make more pokeblocks for everyone. Everyone’s dietary needs had changed, and with all the new Pokemon they needed their own. Thankfully I could easily tell what they needed, information that was provided to me like a mental guide. I didn’t have all the ingredients I wanted, but I had more than enough to make some good quality pokeblocks that would get all eleven Pokemon through another month.
I actually really liked making pokeblocks. It was less like cooking, and more like chemistry. You had to balance the ingredients in a far more precise manner. It wasn’t just a vague mixture of berries, herbs, and vitamins, it required patience and being able to measure things properly. I had failed quite a few of those early batches, but now it was more a matter of how good they were. And of course higher quality meant that they would be more beneficial.
As I was finishing up there was a sudden Pokemon flopped next to me, and I looked as Rio put her head on my leg, looking up at me. “That little ice fox is tough,” she complained. I could see that most of her fur was covered in frost. I laughed softly as I started to scratch under the jackal’s chin.
“That was fun,” the little ice fox in question said as she came in, looking roughed up, followed by Scoly, who was equally a mess. “It’s nice fighting someone who actually fights back.”
“We still barely beat her,” Scoly complained with a sigh. “Even with all three of us.” The bug horse laid down beside me, and I realized Goomy was riding on her back. I was nearly knocked over as the bug rolled onto her side and against me, much to the surprise of the slug on her back.
“Rio is good at close combat,” I said, trying to shift and not get rolled over by a bug. “But her greatest strength is shrugging off hits. With a bit of training Keo could beat her solo by focusing her down with ice attacks.”
“Why are you against me?” Rio whined, softly batting at my arm as I continued scratching under her chin.
I chuckled and smiled at her. “It’s something that you need to be aware of. You’re slipping out of your block or deflect focus again.” I grabbed hold of her muzzle, wiggling her head a bit. “You're good at tanking, but you’re not supposed to get hit that hard.”
She stuck her tongue out at me, not being able to make a rebuttal because I was holding her mouth shut. Keo tilted her head. “What’s tanking?”
“Ah, it’s one of the three forms of defense.” I went into a brief explanation of the forms and how they worked. “If you plan on battling, you need to choose one to focus more on. That includes you too, Goomy.” I reached over and started to squish-pet the slug, who looked quite pleased at the attention.
Keo sat down next to Rio, her brow furrowed. “Which one do you think I should do?”
I blinked. “You want me to choose?”
“You’re the trainer,” she said, gesturing at me.
With a chuckle, I nodded. “True. But you’re the only one who asked.” I thought about it for a moment, trying to recall what I had seen in the fight. “I think dodge would fit you best. Losing a leg hasn’t apparently slown you down, you just move differently now, and the injury would throw off opponents who would think you weren’t fast. Your speed is really good, and with some training could get even better. Especially if you evolve-”
“I want to evolve.”
I paused. “Are you sure?”
She placed her paw onto my leg and nodded. “My mother is a Ninetails. She’s… so powerful.”
I nodded a bit. “If that’s what you want.” I wondered if evolving like that would heal her… My knowledge power wasn’t giving me an answer. Evolution was something that was unfortunately not well known. Many evolutions were unknown, at least according to the pokedex app. Professor Oak’s reaction to me saying how many Pokemon I knew of had been rather subdued, but when Professor Burnet had said that Mimikyu was an unknown Pokemon, I looked up how many Pokemon were actually in the pokedex. It had less than seven hundred listed. I should ask Professor Sycamore about it, he might know.
There was a big smile on the little ice fox’s face, and her tails were wagging. I reached over to rub at her cheek. It was at that moment that I realized that I didn’t have enough hands to pet them all. “I…want to do…that third one…” a small and unfamiliar voice said.
Looking from where it came from I could see the little slug that was still sitting on Scoly and looking at me with a determined expression. That was the first thing she had actually said, and it brought a smile to my face. “Tank?” I asked, and she gave a nod. “That’s a very good choice for you, since you have the Gooey ability.”
“Gooey?” she questioned.
“Rio, did you notice when you hit Goomy, a bit of slime got on you?” I turned my gaze to Rio, who had her eyes closed.
“Yeah. It was like… if I hit her hard enough, it would kind of splatter me a bit and after a while it made it harder to move,” she said as she held up her arm, gesturing to a bit where there were some splatters left.
“That’s what the Gooey ability does. The more you physically hit her, the more goo will get on you, which sticks and slows you down.” I could see the way that Goomy’s eyes seemed to sparkle as I described the ability.
“I want to train more,” Rio suddenly whined.
“We can do some training tomorrow,” I said and looked up as Cara and the rest started to make their way into the tent.
“How will the new ones train?” Cara asked. She was carrying Mikyu in one arm, and leading Banette by the hand with the other. Her fear of ghosts could not overpower her extremely fierce motherly instincts.
“Well that depends on if they are interested in training.” I looked at the newest members expectantly. They wouldn’t have to battle if they didn’t want to, but training would help them get stronger. Unsurprisingly all of them wanted to train, especially Eevee, but she understood that she was too weak to start yet. With a nod I took a moment to think about how to start them off. “I’ll sit with them at the edge of the field. The Gravity is weakest at the edge, and if they’re struggling too much I can get them out.” That seemed to satisfy her curiosity and she nodded.
The sleeping arrangements had suddenly become very complicated. Cara still had her spot, with Rio sort of laying on her with her head on my thigh. Scoly now took up my entire lower right side, though she put her head under my hand and I felt some of her legs laying on mine. Dee made herself comfortable as my pillow. Eevee tucked herself into my neck above Cara. Keo put herself on my right side, laying mostly on my bicep, and Goomy was next to her on my shoulder. And then everyone else was on top of me. Banette and Brionne laid on my chest, while Mikyu laid on my stomach.
I was well and thoroughly pinned. Thankfully the only heavy one that laid on top of me was Brionne, and she still felt pretty light. The only thing that I could really move was my left arm, but Diancie had laid down on the other side of Cara and grasped my free hand. I wasn’t entirely sure if she slept or just laid with us and held my hand.
~
Waking in the morning wasn’t a struggle, but getting everyone else to wake up was the hard part. Cara was the only one who got up quickly and helped unbury me. Everyone was rather reluctant to get up, until I mentioned that they wouldn’t get any pokeblocks until they came outside.
That got everyone moving, even those new to the group. Dee and Cara helped me pass out pokeblocks to everyone. The reaction from Keo, Mikyu, Banette, and even Goomy, from their first pokeblock was quite a sight. Their whole being seemed enraptured, a moment of utter bliss radiating off them. Of course, everyone had a similar reaction, but those who never had one before always had such a strong reaction. Of course I ate one from my personal stock. They were like super vitamin gummies and I had seen the fantastic results it had had on my physical abilities. I was stronger, and had a lot more stamina.
In order to start training we had to move out of range of the tent, since I was fairly certain it wouldn’t withstand the force. I put out markers for everyone, as well as the training balls. “I want everyone to keep at it from their last session, but Scoly.” I pointed at the bug. “I want you to try and do as little damage to the ground as possible. It’s good training for your control, but I also don’t want to mess up the beach.”
She nodded after a moment. Everyone got into position as I walked back to the tent. I didn’t even make it a few steps before Gravity suddenly spiked as Diancie decided it was time to start. It caused me to stumble, but other than that I was okay. Goomy started to do her laps, still struggling to move properly in the Gravity, especially now in the sand.
“Keo, Banette, Mikyu.” I stood at the edge of the Gravity field as I called them over. “Your main goal for the time will be to get used to the increased Gravity.” They looked at me a bit confused. “You’ll understand when you cross that line,” I pointed at the clear indentation that the Gravity made in the sand.
Mikyu was the first to venture in, immediately being crushed under the weight. “Ah- heavy-” she whined, struggling. I heard a few cracks from the sticks inside her costume, but she otherwise seemed fine.
“Just try and keep breathing,” I said, mostly to Keo since I didn’t know if the two ghosts actually needed to breathe.
Keo entered next, immediately hitting the sand. I saw the panic in her eyes.
“Just breathe,” I said softly as I knelt down. “I’m right here if you can’t take it. I can-”
“No,” she managed through grit teeth, looking at the rest of the group who didn’t even look to be struggling under the weight. “I can do it…”
“Just keep breathing.” As I spoke, Banette came in as well, hitting the ground harder than the other two. It was clear that Banette and Mikyu hadn’t done any previous training. It was probably a bit too harsh to start them off immediately into the Gravity field, but I didn’t really have any other options.
It was a few hours before Keo actually managed to get up slightly. The Primarina had also shown up, watching the excitement with cheers and applause. They had enough sense to not try and enter the gravity field after testing it a bit. It wasn’t long after that before Professor Burnet approached. “Ah, training?” Her brow furrowed as she looked at the three on the ground. “Alola. What’s wrong with them?”
“Ah, Alola, it’s their first day of training. So they’re- ah! Wait don’t-” but my warning came too late.
The moment she entered the Gravity field her legs buckled and she nearly ate sand. She had barely been able to catch herself. I moved over quickly and pulled her out of the field. She was panting and gasping for air once I did. “What…what the fuck was that?!” she yelled.
“Gravity,” I said as I gestured to the area. “Diancie can create a large field of it, increasing the weight of everything ten times.”
She was still breathing kind of hard as she stood up with my help, her legs were a bit shaky. “How… how are you fine?”
“I’ve been training in it, too. It’s still hard, but after a few months it gets easy enough to move in.” I took a step back, reentering the Gravity field.
The Professor stared at me for a moment before looking over at the training Pokemon. Then realization dawned on her. “You train all of your Pokemon like that?”
“It’s an effective method.” I looked down at the struggling trio, making sure that none of them were struggling too much. “Increases strength, speed, and endurance. Bit rough at the start, though.”
She put her hand under her chin. “I’ve never heard of this sort of training before.”
“Yeah that doesn’t surprise me,” I said as I looked back at the training Pokemon. “How did the talk with the Kahuna go?”
“Well, he wants to talk to you before making a decision…”
“Alright. When does he want to meet?”
“Right now,” came a voice from the side. I turned to see an older looking man in a blue shirt and yellow sort of flowery robe. “Alola.”
“Kahuna Hala, Alola,” I said with a smile and a slight bow of my head.
“Ho? So you know who I am on sight.” It’s not like it was difficult. He looked me up and down, or at least I think he did considering his eyes looked closed. He then looked behind me to see my Pokemon training. “So this is how a Pokemon Expert trains Pokemon?” To my surprise he stepped forward, entering the Gravity field. He acted like he didn’t notice the change, but I practically felt the way his muscles tensed.
“It’s how I train them,” I said with a bit of a soft laugh.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of using Gravity to increase the difficulty of training.” I was fairly certain he was looking at me out of the corner of his eyes as I felt a scrutinizing gaze.
“I will admit I didn’t come up with it, but I saw its effectiveness. And I was lucky enough to have a friend who knew the move.” I gestured towards Diancie.
“A mythic,” Hala said. There were a few moments of silence as we watched before he spoke again, “You came here for a Z-Power Ring.”
“I did,” I admitted.
“And what makes you think you’re worthy of one?” He turned to face me, folding his arms in front of him.
“I don’t.” I continued to watch my Pokemon, though I matched his stance and folded my arms. “But it’s not for me. It’s for them.”
“Ho?” He arched a brow at me.
“They want to be stronger. And I promised that I would help them.” I smiled a bit. “Z-Moves. Mega Evolutions. Dynamax. Terastallization. If it can help make them stronger, then I’m gonna try and get it.”
“Hm. Well, I don’t know what those are, aside from Z-Moves.” He sounded interested, but it was rather hard to tell as he was keeping his tone rather neutral.
“I would show you, but I don’t-” I stopped, and then reached into my bag and pulled out my key stone. “Actually, I can Mega Evolve one of my Pokemon. I’ve not gotten the stones for the others.” I looked at the group of training Pokemon. “Diancie! Gravity off.”
The effect immediately ended and she looked over at me, blinking. I waved for her to come over. “Yes?” she questioned as she floated over.
“We’re going to show the Kahuna something,” I said with a smile. I tried to think back to the moment when Andrew’s Lucario had Mega Evolved. He hadn’t done anything special as far as I could tell aside from using energy. And it had looked like it had been the Lucario that had triggered the effect. “I want you to empower your Diancite.”
She just blinked at me.
“Push energy into it,” I tried, hoping that that explanation would be enough. It took a moment but there was suddenly a flash of light, swirling energy encapsulated her for a brief moment, and when it abruptly broke she was very different. I felt a massive pull of energy from myself that I hadn’t been expecting. I should have, considering what I knew of Mega Evolutions. I was the source of the energy that allowed her to Mega Evolve.
Her forehead diamond had taken on a more heart shape. Her dress had expanded, now having flowing lace. Her diamonds had grown and now took the form of a skirt around her. The rock that had been her lower half was now just a big pink diamond. “Oh!” she exclaimed, doing a twirl.
Everyone, including the nearby Pokemon, gaped at her new appearance. She giggled and twirled at the attention. “That is a Mega Evolution. A temporary spike in her overall power.”
“How…how long does it last?” Professor Burnet asked.
“Till she can’t maintain it, or reverts herself.” I held out my hand and she rushed over to grasp it, giggling.
“And… all Pokemon can do this?” the Professor asked, taking a look at Diancie.
“Only if you can find a matching Mega Stone. Of the known Mega Stones that match those in my group, there’s one for Lucario, Audino, and Banette.” I twirled Diancie around, much to her delight.
“How much of a power spike is it?” Hala asked, finally having picked his jaw up off the floor.
“It varies too much from Pokemon to Pokemon, but it should be a noticeable boost. Professor Sycamore might have more exact data.” I still wasn’t sure if stats could actually be given numbers.
Diancie suddenly burst into light, and returned to her original form. “That was cool!” she exclaimed.
“Did you end that, or get tired?” I asked, a bit concerned at how short that had been.
“It was starting to feel weird,” she said. “But I could have done it for a lot longer.” It sounded like it was a case of her just not being used to it, and it made her uncomfortable.
I nodded a bit and looked at the Kahuna. He seemingly looked at me as well, scrutinizing me. “You just want power?”
I shook my head. “No. They want to be strong, and I want to help them.”
“What’s the difference?” Professor Burnet asked, her brow furrowing.
“It’s power for their sake, not my sake.”
Hala watched me, scrutinizing me. It was obvious he was trying to keep his expression flat, but the shock of what I had just shown him had caught him off guard. After a few moments he nodded. “I will give you one chance.”
The Professor blinked. “What?”
I smiled. “That’s all I ask for.”
“So now you’re changing your mind, Kahuna,” the Professor said, frowning.
He held up a hand with a laugh. “Burnet. It won’t be me he has to convince. He has to convince one of the Guardians that he is worthy. That will be his first Trial.”
~
A few hours later I found myself in the Pokecenter, having just handed everyone over for a checkup. “Here’s the pokebeans that you wanted,” Professor Burnet said, handing me a pouch. I nodded a bit as I took it and put it into one of the outer pockets of my bag. I had been warned not to put a spacial bag inside of another, or they would both stop working. “I’m sorry about Hala. He told me he was going to tell you no. I didn’t think he’d just give you an impossible task.”
I reached up and rubbed at the Comfey that was sitting on my shoulder. “You think it’s impossible?”
“Only the Kahuna’s are ever acknowledged personally by the Guardians. It’s part of the ceremony.” She sighed as she leaned against the wall. She sighed again after a moment. “I’m going to go talk to him. Alola.” She left before I had a chance to say anything.
I chuckled a bit. “Oh ye of little faith.” I turned a bit to look at the little Pokemon. “You believe in me, don’t you Comfey?”
They responded with a nod and a soft, “Of course.”
At that moment Nurse Joy appeared. “Ah, Jason. Here are your Pokemon.” She had Dee beside her, who was carrying one of those little trays that had nearly a dozen pokeballs on it.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile, quickly scooping them all up and tucking them inside my coat. Once they were all collected, Dee passed the tray to Nurse Joy who took it with a smile.
“I wish you luck, Alola” she said with a smile at me before turning away and going off to assist someone else.
“Alola,” I said, giving Comfey a pat before heading back outside. “Does anyone have faith in me?” I asked the air as I rubbed the top of Dee’s head.
Suddenly there was a Rio standing in front of me, her hands on her hips. “I do!” she declared.
I let out a soft snort as I reached over and ruffled her head. “Well I’m glad you do.”
“I think we all do,” Cara said after popping out from her pokeball as well.
“I’m honestly not too worried about it,” I said as I retrieved Eevee from her pokeball. Since she was recovering from a sickness, the stasis that the pokeballs put her in was detrimental to her recovery time. She actually bonked her head into my chest after I picked her up, which brought a smile to my face. “Either I succeed, or I don’t. And while it would be beneficial to get it, it won’t be the end of the world if I don’t.”
“What’s so important about these things anyways?” Rio asked, her head tilting to the side. Everyone else came out as well, not wanting to stay in their pokeballs if they didn’t have to. Brionne, Goomy, Mikyu, Banette, and Keo all riding on Scoly’s back. The only one who didn’t come out was Diancie, as I had warned her not to come out inside towns. Even without her, we were drawing a lot of looks. Most people didn’t walk around with more than a single Pokemon out.
“Z-Moves are extremely powerful.” In terms of the games they were pretty broken and unbalanced. Neat gimmick, though. Before I could go into more detail a group stepped in our path.
In the front was a rather young looking man, dressed in a white suit. He had purple hair, which matched his shirt and his shoes. Behind him were two rather large men dressed in black suits, wearing sunglasses and even had ear pieces. They were clearly there to be intimidating, but all I could think was how they must be suffering in this heat. I could see one of them whispering to the young man, looking like he was explaining something but from the expression on his face he wasn't listening very much.
“Hey, you,” the young man called out.
“Yes?” I looked the young man up and down, though now that I actually got a better look at him there was no way that he was even old enough to start his journey yet.
“You have some strong looking Pokemon. How much do you want for him?” he said as he gestured towards my group of Pokemon.
I looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out what sort of nonsense did his parents do that gave him such confidence. My brow furrowed and I shook my head. “Not for sale.”
His mouth looked like he had suddenly sucked on a lemon. “Not for sale? What do you mean? I want you to sell him to me,” he said with another gesture at the group. “How about thirty thousand?”
“Look, kid. I’m not going to sell any of my Pokemon to you.” I glanced at the two bodyguards that were doing their best to look intimidating.
“Fine, fifty thousand for him.” He was clenching his fists, clearly losing his temper.
“No. Look-” I paused as I realized something. “Wait. Who- who are you even talking about?”
The question seemed to catch him off guard as he stared at me for a moment. “What? What do you mean who? Him,” he said as he gestured vaguely at the group.
Now I was just confused. I realized why something about what he was saying was off. “I don’t have any male Pokemon,” I said after a moment of thinking. Of course that was the moment I realized it myself. All of them were girls. How did that happen? I was going to have to get some male Pokemon or people are going to think weird things and jump to ridiculously dumb conclusions.
There was a moment of silence as he stared at me like I was an idiot. Eventually he seemed to snap out of whatever shock he had. “Yes. You do, right- Whatever. The dog one, the taller one. I want him.”
I paused as I looked over at my group again, a bit more confused at who he was even talking about. However I realized who when I saw the looks on Cara and Rio’s face. I turned back to him, frowning a bit. “No. Also, all of those Pokemon are female. I don’t have any males.”
He stared at me, still having that same expression. “Are you stupid? That one. Right there,” he pointed but I didn’t look back. “Whatever! Just, sell him to me. I’ll give you sixty thousand, and my bodyguards won’t beat you up.”
My eye twitched slightly. I took in a deep breath. “First of all, this is not going to happen, you self entitled brat. Kids like you always make things so difficult…” He looked absolutely gobsmacked by my words. “Secondly, that is a female Pokemon. All of them are female,” I tried to put as much emphasis on that as possible.
His face was going red with how made he was getting, which was honestly quite impressive to watch him turn into a tomato. “You-”
“What’s going on here?” Professor Burnet asked, quickly coming over.
“Ah, Professor. Alola.” The way both of the bodyguards stiffened was honestly satisfying. “This young man is demanding that I give him one of my Pokemon.”
“Is he?” It was an Officer Jenny that asked. I didn’t even know she was there, but she practically materialized from behind the Professor, apparently they had been talking to each other nearby.
“I did not! I wanted to buy him!” the kid practically shouted.
“And I said no, you cannot buy her,” I said, putting emphasis on the last word. “And yet you kept demanding and threatening me. That is attempted theft by coercion I believe, Officer Jenny?”
“Indeed it is.” She put her hands on her hips. “You three. Come with me. Now.”
For a moment it looked like the kid was going to argue, but then one of the men put a hand on his shoulder. “Of course, Officer. This is just a misunderstanding and I’m sure we’ll be able to clear it up.”
I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation as I walked off. I wasn’t about to be bothered with that. “What was that about?” Professor Burnet asked when she caught up.
“Exactly as I described. That kid was demanding I sell Rio to him and wouldn’t take no for an answer.” I glanced at Rio, who for the first time since I had known her looked a bit scared. Not the type of scared she’d been by the ghost’s, but an actual look of fear. “But there’s no way I’m letting that happen. She’s my family, and I’m not letting her go,” I said, mostly to reassure Rio than to convince the Professor. Which seemed to work as both jackals eased a bit.
However the Professor’s eyes narrowed a bit. “Feels like a bit more than that… but alright.” She sighed a bit. “Anyways, I talked to the Kahuna, but he’s-”
I interrupted her with a pat on her back. “Have some confidence, Professor. You’re talking like I’ve already failed.” She just stared at me, and I gave her a wave as I headed off up the mountain towards the ruins of conflict. “Alola,” I called out.
I returned everyone so that they wouldn’t accidentally draw more attention. Scoly asked if I wanted to ride her, but I just pet her saying that I actually wanted to walk the island. We’d get plenty of running around later. She was a bit grumpy about that.
Everyone was back in their pokeball but Eevee and Goomy, the little fox was placed back into my hood while the slug was placed on my shoulder. They seemed quite excited to see the place, and that made me feel bad that everyone else couldn’t see it very well. But there were too many people and we were drawing too much attention.
As soon as we were back outside of the city, I let them all back out and we got to walk for a while, heading up towards the mountain. Though most of them were being lazy and just riding on Scoly while enjoying the scenery. I took the scenic route around the island, listening to them chatter about the things they could see. As we approached Iki Town, I had everyone but Eevee and Goomy return again.
“You think it’ll be that easy?” a voice called out, and I looked over at Hala who was standing in the middle of the arena. Iki Town was a nice little place, and would have probably been a lot more pleasant if everyone hadn’t been staring at me. This was the last place I had to pass by before entering Mahala Trail and the ruins.
I looked up at the man, standing on the battle platform. In response to his question, I laughed. “No. But-” I spread my arms out, “You gave me the Trial. What kind of person wouldn’t even try when they’ve been given a chance?”
He glared down at me for a moment before nodding. “If you want to access the trail, you must beat me.”
“Changing the rules because I won’t back down, old man?” I said with a laugh as I got up onto the other side of the platform.
A booming sort of laughter escaped him as well. “You can think of it as this old man just being stubborn about tradition.” He took his place opposite me. “How many Pokemon do you have that are ready for battle?”
“Full six,” I said.
He nodded. “Three on three, then.”
There was a crowd forming. I could feel a bit of sweat on my palms… this was my first official Pokemon battle, and it was not going to be a simple opponent. Another person came up on the side of the arena, putting up their hand. “This is an official battle between the Kahuna Hala, and the Pokemon Expert Jason. Three versus three. No swaps. Any Pokemon that is returned will be considered knocked out. Kahuna, are you ready?” He nodded, pulling out a pokeball. “Challenger, are you ready?”
I wondered why I was considered the challenger when it was clearly Hala that initiated. But I nodded, pulling a ball of my own. “Ready.”
“Release your Pokemon,” the referee called.
We both threw our pokeballs at the same time. Both burst into light, revealing Brionne on my side, and Hariyama on the other. That was one of the Pokemon he used in the League battle back in the game. “Brionne, eh? I was expecting one of your Lucarios,” he said with a chuckle. Hariyama was already using a buff move without any order.
“Moonblast,” was my response, and Brionne unleashed the blue-violet burst of energy without hesitation.
Hala arched a brow at me, but his Pokemon simply palmed the blast, causing it to explode into a violet cloud.
“Up,” I instructed as the Hariyama lunged forward through the remnants of the swirling energy and struck forward, his fist colliding with nothing but the jet of water that Brionne had just used to launch herself into the air.
That clearly caught both trainer and Pokemon off guard, but she had used too much effort when doing it and launched herself too high. Downfall of being so used to Gravity. But she managed an absolutely stunning pirouette to orient herself and an Aqua Ring burst around her before she came down right onto the fighting Pokemon, causing an immediate burst of smoke and almost comical sound effects to erupt out as she used Play Rough. Part of training was to keep using moves of the same type to the last one I called.
I had sent out Brionne because fighting was weak to fairy. When the cloud disappeared and both Pokemon separated, they both looked battered. Unfortunately Hariyama’s response to Play Rough had been Close Combat. I was starting to think that this might be a bit too much for Brionne’s first official battle and I might need to pull her out, but she just looked so determined to keep going.
“Hariyama, throw her,” Hala called out.
I smirked. “Oh? Brionne, look at him going to give you a hug. I think he needs a kiss,” I said as I folded my arms.
The moment the fighting Pokemon grabbed her, she gave him a big smooch on the cheek. Again both trainer and Pokemon were stunned at the action. But before Hala had a chance to respond, his Pokemon fell back, its eyes rolled back and very clearly knocked out.
There was another moment of silence before the referee raised his hand. “Hariyama is unable to battle.”
Hala stared at his Pokemon, and then at me. “Draining Kiss,” I explained, still smirking. Even though that was the case, and Brionne had clearly won, I could see that she was in rough shape. Hariyama had been on his last legs when the kiss landed, so she hadn’t drained much health, and the only reason she was still standing at all was Aqua Ring slowly restoring her.
“Well, that was sure a surprise,” Hala said with a laugh as he returned Haritama and pulled out another ball. He tossed it out and a Poliwrath appeared on his side.
Brionne was in no state to continue, and even if Poliwrath was weak to fairy, he also had Water Absorb and would heal if hit with any water moves from her movement technique. So I pulled out her ball. “Good job,” I said before returning her.
I had focused on fairy moves because Hala’s Pokemon were weak to them, and it had worked, but Brionne still nearly got knocked out by getting hit by just one Close Combat. If he hadn’t tanked that initial Moonblast and instead dodged, the Draining Kiss wouldn’t have been enough and Brione would have gone down from the Seismic Toss. “Brionne has withdrawn. Jason, please send out your next Pokemon.”
Tossing my second pokeball out, the burst of red revealed Scoly, already stanced up and ready to go. “I apologize in advance for your arena. We’re still working on her control.”
He gave me a puzzled look, but the moment the referee dropped his hand to signal the start of the fight, the giant bug horse turned into a ball and immediately spun up. It occurred to me that if she was blue I’d call her a hedgehog. But she was red, so an echidna?
Poliwrath, unsure what to do braced himself and nearly put down the hands it had put up to block before he was barreled into by a red streak. To my surprise, the water Pokemon wasn’t knocked over, but his feet left rather harsh grooves in the wood as he absorbed the blow, which he probably regretted when he saw his hands covered in purple goop.
Scoly had had the best success with any of the experiments I had tried. She couldn’t do it for long, but we had successfully created a new move by combining aspects from Rollout, Defense Curl, Iron Defense, Gyro Ball, Poison Sting, and Extreme Speed. It didn’t have the benefits of all of the moves, but if she’s given a moment to charge up her spin she was a bouncing poison metal ball of doom. She named it Venom Steel Ball.
The next time the red blur shot at the blue Pokemon, he was ready for it. He delivered a rather surprising Sky Uppercut that shifted the angle of her momentum and caused Scoly to be shot upwards at even greater speed, quickly becoming just a red spot in the sky. I had to squint upwards, trying to see what she was doing next. “End it,” Hala said, and I saw Poliwrath begin to slap its stomach. Belly Drum? A move that maximizes attack power at the sacrifice of half the user's health.
I didn’t think that was a good move, considering the Pokemon was already poisoned and had taken two hits, even if it had blocked both. He was betting on mutual destruction? Then I heard a cry from above, and looked up just to see Scoly ramrod straight and plummeting towards Poliwrath. “Meteor Horn!” she screamed.
And then the arena exploded.
My arms shot up to block the scattering of debris. After a moment I peeked over my arm to see that a good third of the arena was gone, and it had been replaced by a huge crater. In the center of that crater was a large red figure, attempting to get her head unstuck from the ground. I looked around, seeing Poliwrath a few dozen feet away and embedded in the wall of the Kahuna’s house.
She had missed.
But even with a miss, the force of the blow and the damage the poor water Pokemon had taken was apparently enough to knock it out. Hala had also not escaped unscathed, having had to dive from the platform to not get hit by the blast, and he was now peeking over the edge to survey the destruction. “I thought you were joking!” he shouted at me, clearly talking about my earlier comment about destroying the arena.
I just shrugged at him, brushing some dust from my coat. Scoly had used Megahorn combined with her large size and weight, and amped up her defense while in the air to survive the air strike.
She finally broke free of the ground, gasping for air. “I live!” she declared, striking a pose on the center of the crater.
I looked over at the referee, who had also dived back and was hiding behind part of the arena. “Are you going to call it?”
He startled, looking over at me for a moment. Then he looked at Scoly, and then over at Poliwrath. “P-Poliwrath is- is unable to b-battle!” he managed to call.
Scoly jumped up, landing in the arena near me with a sort of grace that seemed unnatural to her size and previous action. “How was that? Came up with it myself.”
“You missed,” I said, pointing over at the Poliwrath.
She froze, looking down into the crater. “Huh. So I did…” she said sheepishly. Even though I was kind of glad that she did, as I wasn’t sure if that Pokemon would have survived that.
“But, good job adapting and taking advantage of your situation.” She looked immensely pleased, though I did notice that she was swaying. “You good for another?”
“I… I’m a bit dizzy,” she admitted. “My head hurts.” It had been a struggle to make them realize that telling me they were hurt or tired was not admitting they were weak, but helping me to make them better. With the fact that Pokemon could have long lasting damage, pushing himself in a fight could have pretty severe consequences.
I nodded and returned her before she could protest. Hala climbed back onto the arena, taking his position. “Okay. Yeah, I admit that I really underestimated you.” He looked quite thoughtful as he spoke, returning Poliwrath. “I’ll forfeit,” he said with a nod.
The referee opened his mouth, but I cut him off. “Are you sure? You still have Crabominable and your Fightinium Z.”
That caused him to pause, clearly wondering how I knew that. But after a moment he shook his head. “This was a test, and you’ve already passed. There’s no need to continue.”
I could immediately feel the annoyance coming from Rio, whose ball I was already holding, as the referee called out, “Kahuna Hala has forfeit. The winner is Pokemon Expert Jason.” He held up his hand on the same side as me.
To my surprise there were suddenly cheers. I blinked as I looked over, noticing that we had a crowd of at least fifty people. “Huh. That’s a pretty interesting feeling,” I muttered as I hopped down from the stage. I could see a Pokecenter, and that was my destination.
But I was stopped. “What was that big bug Pokemon?” a rather excited kid said.
“Her name is Scoly, and she’s a Scolipede.” I was confused for a moment, as I was fairly certain that Venipede was available in Sun and Moon. Then I realized that it wasn’t in Ultra Sun and Moon, so this was probably based on that? Or maybe they weren’t available on this island? That was confusing.
What followed was a bunch of people congratulating me on passing the test. It honestly felt weird because I didn’t understand why it was such a big deal. Probably impressive to them, but Hala’s Pokemon weren’t on the same level as those that I had watched in the League finals. In fact all it has done is make me realize everyone still has a long way to go.
Eventually I made my way through the crowd and to the Pokecenter. Nurse Joy was outside, as well as a Blissey. Had they also watched? “Everyone is acting like I just beat the Champion or something,” I said with a chuckle.
“Well. Hala is one of the strongest trainers on the island,” Nurse Joy said with a smile, leading me inside.
“Ah, well, I guess that makes sense then.” Though that was disappointing, since I felt he had taken it easy on me. It was like he didn’t use his best Pokemon against me? I knew he still had a Z-Move if he wanted. Maybe that’s why he was the strongest trainer, because he didn’t have to rely on gimmicks to win fights. I placed all of my pokeballs on a tray, planning to have all of them checked on while I was here. Dee immediately burst out, determined to help out like she always did.
“They fought well,” Blissey said as she took the tray, her and Dee disappearing into the back.
I had to agree with that. They had both done a very good job. They both fought opponents who were stronger than them, and had more experience, but used their speed and maneuverability to win. Well, in Brionne’s case the reason she won was because of spamming type advantage, and I wasn’t against using such tactics against someone like Hala. And in the end, a win is a win.
As I sat waiting, continuing my work on my cell phone notes and continuing to ignore my Kalos liaison, suddenly the door was flung open. There stood a man with a white ball cap, sunglasses, a doctor's coat without a shirt, gray shorts and green sandals. Professor Kukui. His eyes immediately locked onto me, lounging with my feet dangling off the side of the couch. “Alola! You’re Jason, right?” he said with a big grin as he made his way over.
“Yeah that’s me,” I said slowly. “Alola.”
“When I heard someone was fighting the Kahuna I came running at extreme speed, but seems I missed the whole fight. You made a mess out of the arena,” he said with a laugh as he sat down in a nearby seat.
I shifted a bit and sat up. “Yeah that was Scoly,” I said with an amused tone.
“Hala said it was one hell of a move, and if he didn’t know better he would have sworn it was a Z-Move,” he said with a chuckle. “But… he also mentioned that he gave you a Trial.”
“He did,” I said with a nod.
He frowned a bit and sighed. “Damn old man making things difficult… If you had asked me, I would have helped get you a Z-Power Ring.”
That caused me to laugh. “Where’s the fun in that? I came here to do Trials. To have myself tested and prove that I was worthy of it.”
He stared at me for a moment before laughing and nodding. “My wife did say you were quite the character. Glad it’s a good one.” There was a smile on his face. “Well, I’d say you’ve at least proven your strength to the old man.”
I waved a hand. “And what does his opinion matter?” I said with a chuckle. “It’s the Guardians that will determine if I’m worthy.”
“And what if they say no?” he asked, an amused look on his face.
“Then I guess I fail and move on.” I tucked my phone back into my bag. “I feel like everyone expects me to give up if I fail.”
“Many do,” he said with a sigh.
Team Skull immediately came to mind and I sighed as well. “Professor. When you fall, what is the first thing you do?” Dee came out with Blissey, holding a tray with all my pokeballs. They were excitedly talking about things, currently about how Dee performed her medical duties out in the wilderness.
He thought about it for a moment, his hand on his chin. “Cuss out whatever I tripped over?”
I snorted softly, smiling as I gathered up my pokeballs, returning Dee. “Okay, yeah that’s fair.” I shook my head, giving him a bit of a smile. “You get up. And if you can’t get up on your own, you ask for help.”
Again he thought for a moment before nodding. “A good way to look at it.”
We wandered out of the Pokecenter after I thanked Blissey and Nurse Joy. We stopped in front of Mahalo trail, a few people were cleaning up the area around the arena and discussing what to do about the crater. Someone just suggested turning it into a pond, and many others agreed.
“Do you think you’ll succeed?” Professor Kukui asked, looking up at the mountain with me.
“That’ll depend on Tapu Koko,” I said before starting my hike. “Alola!” I waved back at him before releasing everyone. A mountain hike would be some good training.
“Freedom!” Rio announced, her fists in the air.
I laughed. “Are you going to do that every time you have to spend time in the pokeball?” I reached over and rubbed her head.
She had the good grace to look a bit embarrassed at her actions, but then she looked a bit sad. “Jace…uhm… about earlier. What that guy said…”
I smiled a bit as I leaned forward, tucking my hand behind her head as I pressed my forehead to the top of her head. “You don’t have to defend yourself with me, Rio.” I gently rubbed the back of her head as I spoke. “You’re my good strong girl.”
A giggle escaped her as she put her hands up, pushing my face away. “Gosh, don’t embarrass me in front of everyone,” she complained as she hurriedly moved away, her face had turned a bit red, but I saw that tail wagging.
We hiked for a few hours before coming up to the rather simple looking entrance in the mountain. The path up continued, but I knew this was it. “Are we going in there?” Scoly asked, a bit hesitant with going underground considering what happened last time. Most of the group was riding on her back.
“Well, this is ruins rather than a cave,” I said with a bit of a smile as I walked forward. Inside was a rather large chamber, the two pits in the center I remembered from the game were large pools of water, but the rest of it was how I thought it would be. A blocky figure eight surrounded by a drop leading to plants and flowers, trees climbing the walls.
“Whoa…” Eevee said from my shoulder. I reached up and scratched absentmindedly under her chin. The ceiling was more tree canopy than actual roof, but that wasn’t very concerning to me as I made my way through. Behind I could hear the little clitter clack of Scoly’s claws on the floor as she followed.
Cara had chosen to walk beside me, having been uncharacteristically quiet since that kid approached us. But she had been clinging to the edge of my coat. She was trying to keep it under control, but every now and then I felt the wisps of her aura. Fear. Concern. Anger. Sadness. She was struggling to keep her emotions in check.
Coming into the room at the end, I could see the grand stand above, though surprisingly the area below that I remembered was a large battle arena. I could see old marks of battle scattered throughout the room. But what I couldn’t see was the Guardian.
Slowly I crossed the room, and made my way up the stairs onto the raised platform. There was the stone totem. I slowly removed Eevee from my hood and handed her and my bag to Cara. “All of you go down and wait. This is going to take a while.”
Chapter 9
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Lucario - Daughter of Cara
Scoly - Scolipede - Adopted daughter of Cara
Brionne - Brionne - Rescued from aquarium
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Taken from Pokecenter
Goomy - Goomy - Clinging for dear life
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart
Banette - Banette - Collected from the Supermart
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - Taken from Pokecenter
Chapter Text
Of course when I said it was going to take a while, I didn’t think it was going to take this long. I had sat for a few hours, gotten up and studied the totem for an hour, and then sat again. Was it too much to hope that Tapu Koko would just…show up? Did I have to summon them? The sun was crossing the sky and I hadn’t thought of anything.
Diancie had activated Gravity in the battle arena, and everyone was doing all sorts of workouts that Dee was instructing them on. They were rather basic things, like pushups, jumping jacks, running in place, that sort of thing. The three new pokemon were also getting in on it, and to my surprise, so was Eevee. For some reason Eevee seemed the least affected by her first time under Gravity than anyone I had seen, though she was struggling to do anything else but sit.
Without much thought, I began to do the dances that accompany Z-Moves. I began with the one for Oceanic Operetta as it was the one I knew the best. Then I tried Guardian of Alola. Then I started to run through every type. Breakneck Blitz, All-Out Pummeling, Supersonic Skystrike, Acid Downpour, Tectonic Rage, Continental Crush, Savage Spin-Out, Never-Ending Nightmare, Corkscrew Crash, Inferno Overdrive, Hydro Vortex, Bloom Doom, Gigavolt Havoc, Shattered Psyche, Subzero Slammer, Devastating Drake, Black Hole Eclipse, and Twinkle Tackle.
By the end I was sweating and out of breath. That had been oddly exhausting. “What was that?” Cara asked.
I felt my face turn a bit red, but I couldn’t tell if that was because of the workout, or embarrassment. “The- uh… the movements that go with Z-Moves,” I said after a moment.
She handed me a bottle of water. “Is it like that Kamehameha thing?” she asked, her head tilting to the side.
I cleared my throat before taking a drink from the bottle. “Sort of…”
“Your aura was doing weird stuff,” she said, her brow furrowed. “Shifting…”
My eyebrows rose a bit. “Those movements were actually doing something you could see in my aura?” She nodded. “That’s… really interesting actually.” I thought about it for a moment before I cleared my throat. “Alright. It’s time for my secret weapon. Let’s make lunch.”
There was a fire pit in the room, probably for ceremonies, but I was going to use it to cook. Taking off my coat, I started to prepare. Dee, Mikyu, and Banette all started to help me, while Cara, Rio, and Brionne helped prep all the plates and bowls.
I enjoyed listening to the chatter of everyone as I cooked, the conversation mostly being about the island and how exciting it was to be so far from where they were born. The three newcomers all seemed excited to know that they were going to go on such journeys, as Cara told them that my goal was to see the world. That shifted the conversation towards Kalos and what that place was like, which eventually led to the League battles.
After everyone got their plates, before preparing my own, I made up one special plate. I made it a bit more on the spicy side, though it had a mixture of all of them. I walked up the stairs, putting the large plate down in front of the totem. “You better eat it before it gets cold,” I said rather loudly to the air before I made my way back down to get some for myself.
It wasn’t five minutes before there was a burst from the canopy, and an orange, black and yellow Pokemon appeared on the stand. I only glanced up at it for a moment, before turning my attention back to my food. “You have waited long-” it began.
But I cut it off. “Eat first,” I said, gesturing at it with my fork. “And I better not hear you complaining, because if you’d shown up earlier I would have known what sort of food you like and made that.”
They stared down at me, clearly quite caught off guard by my statement. Most of the Pokemon had ignored their appearance, though Cara was watching them carefully, as was Rio and Keo. However I watched as they seemed to literally deflate, all the bravado that they had clearly shown up with smacked down by my indifference.
Without a word, they turned around, picked up their plate and began eating. I knew they were defeated the moment they took that first bite. I could see it on their face. Their eyes went wide and they just stared at the plate. “That’s… very good…” they said softly before they started to dig in with gusto.
I was really finding out that people didn’t give Pokemon good food. Honestly they barely had good food for themselves. I hadn’t been to a high end restaurant, though I planned to go to one while here in Alola, but the food here didn’t seem that good from what I had seen and tasted. And it was clearly from the lack of brands. Why make really good food when everyone is used to mediocre food, and you have no competition?
The curry mixes that I bought were super basic, which is one of the reasons I needed to add so much to actually get the flavor up there. They weren’t bad, but they were closer to cheap ramen flavor packets than the type of curry mix I was used to. That first batch I had made was garbage to what I could do now.
Slowly the conversations began to pick back up. It was always fun listening to Pokemon chatter amongst themselves. They had a surprising amount to talk about. Stories mostly, either experienced or told to them. A lot of them sounded like imaginary stories they made up at some point, or play pretend things that they had done. It gave pretty good insight into what they all did on a day to day basis out in the wild.
At some point, a less boastful looking Tapu Koko approached, carefully holding their plate. “May I… have some more?”
I smiled a bit as I got up, holding my hand out for their plate. “Of course. I made plenty.” They quickly gave it to me and I moved over to the pots, which did still have some left. “What sort of flavors do you like?”
They quickly moved up beside me. “Can I have it spicier?” they asked excitedly.
With a chuckle and a nod I went straight for the spiciest pot. Thankfully there was more than enough for one more plate worth, as I was still trying to get portion sizes right. “Here.” I held out the plate to them.
There was a bit of hesitation as they looked at the plate, as if realizing something. “Why do you want power?”
I blinked at them a few times and then chuckled with a shake of my head. “It’s funny how everyone just assumes that I’m the one who wants to be strong. I don’t want power.” I pushed the plate a bit more towards them, practically forcing them to take it, which they did. “They want to be strong, and I want to help them.”
There were a few moments of silence as Tapu Koko looked at me, studying me. It felt like they could see a lot more, and I felt like there was some sort of energy washing over me. Eventually he sighed. “I know what Hala wants. He wants me to deny you a Z-Power Ring.”
I frowned, cursing the old man in my head and aloud, “Stubborn old man. Even after I beat him.”
The Tapu just nodded. “It is rare that we allow outsiders to partake in our Trials. He is following tradition, and caution, as history has shown those who gain it do not use Z-Power for the protection of Alola, they use it to destroy,” he paused, “However. In this case I do not agree.”
That caught me off guard. I was already planning on my next steps and where to go next since Z-Moves sounded like a bust. “Really?”
They nodded. “However, I will give you a Trial of my own. I will give you the Z-Power Ring, but you must prove to me that you do not need it.”
My brow furrowed a bit as I tried to think about how I would go about doing that. So a Trial for a Trial? Or was it a Trial for a Trial for a Trial? How many Trials deep was I now? And had I not already done that just by getting this far? “Is there something in particular you want me to accomplish?”
“Yes.” They looked down at the plate for a moment before looking back at me. “You must win your League tournament back where you came from, without using Z-Moves.”
That got me to chuckle. “So you want to make sure that I don't use Z-Power as a shortcut.” They just nodded before starting to eat, clearly having been holding themself back until they got to say what they wanted. “Well, that's an easy enough thing to follow, but something difficult to accomplish. If all it takes is not using Z-Moves in the League, then I won’t use them in the League. Or gym battles,” I added. It was better to not show them off at all if I could help it.
They froze mid bite, clearly not having thought about the gym battles. But they nodded, clearly pleased with me not trying to skirt around their Trial with a technicality. Or they were just pleased at how good the food was. Maybe both. Hard to tell. “For doing that, I shall give you a Z-Crystal upon your return.”
I nodded. “That would be a fair reward, though there are eight gyms that I must complete. And I plan to become an Elite Trainer, so I have to actually fight their strongest teams.” I was trying to see if I could convince the Tapu to maybe give me a little more, since the Trial was very difficult.
It looked like they thought it over for a moment as they ate, or they weren't thinking about it and were just eating. Once they were done, they nodded. “Two Z-Crystals.”
I snorted softly, and nodded. “Alright. But I can get any crystal I want in the meantime, right?”
Again they seemed to think this over before they nodded. “Yes.” They held out their empty plate towards me, but when I reached to take it from them they grabbed hold of my hand. With their other hand they pushed up my sleeve before reaching into the space behind their mask.
I was a bit surprised when they pulled out not the Sparkling Stone that I had been expecting, but an actual completed Z-Power Ring. It was black and gray in color, with the sort of white Z imprint in the center, but that’s where the similarities stopped. The band itself appeared to be made from roots that hung limp. However when they placed it onto my wrist, there was a spark of electricity and the roots came to life and wrapped themselves around my arm.
There was the instinct to yank my hand away that I almost gave into, but they didn’t grip too hard, and quickly settled themselves to appear more like a decorative band. “If you fail the Trial, I and the other Tapu will come to retrieve this, and all the other crystals that you have collected.”
There was a rather large smile on my face, threatening to break into a grin. This was an extremely exciting moment and I could already think of how this would change my journey. I tested the band a bit, finding that I could remove it if I wanted to, before I set the empty plate down. The stone looked extremely old, scuffed and scratched. Clearly this had belonged to someone long ago. “Thank you for this chance. If I fail this Trial, I will give it back without a fuss. Though I don’t think I will fail.” At least I hoped I wouldn’t. If I wanted to accomplish that goal, I’d have to beat not only Andrew, but also that Trainer Laura.
They looked at me for a moment before nodding. “You may stay here tonight if you wish.”
I shook my head. “No, I won’t impose further. There’s plenty of time to get down the mountain.”
There was another moment of pause before they nodded again. “Thank you for the meal.” Then they left, shooting up through the canopy.
Turning towards the rest of the Pokemon, they were all staring at me. Cara, Rio, Keo, and Scoly were stanced up, as if ready to rush in and attempt to battle the Legendary Pokemon if things went bad. “Let’s clean up, and then head back down,” I said, unable to get the smile off of my face even if I wanted to.
~
After cleaning up, I returned everyone but Eevee, Goomy, and Scoly, with the purpose of riding the bug horse down the mountain as fast as possible. I was reminded of just how fast this bug was, and that I really needed a saddle. I wondered where they got the saddles for the Pokemon transportation system here in Alola and decided to ask and get one made soon. The current plan was to head all the way back to the beach, but we stopped at the end of Mahala Trail as there were two people there. Kahuna Hala and Professor Kukui.
Hala was wearing a rather blank expression, but Professor Kukui looked a bit concerned. I hopped down from Scoly, my legs a bit jellied from the ride, but I managed to stay standing. That was something I would have to get used to.
“Alola!” I greeted. Both of them looked at me expectantly, and I just rolled my eyes before raising up my arm and pulling down the sleeve of my coat to show them the Z-Power Ring. They both looked genuinely shocked. “How’s that, old man?”
It took a moment, but eventually Hala laughed. “Well. And here I was about to offer help with whatever task the Tapu gave you.”
I laughed as well. Kukui just looked confused. “You got it? That easily?”
“Not easily,” I said with a bit of a sigh. “I have to win the Kalos League, or Tapu Koko and the other Tapu are going to beat me up and take it back.”
Hala just laughed more. “That sounds more like it!” he announced, wearing a rather wide smile.
“At least the League will be easier with Z-Moves,” Kukui said with a nod, folding his arms in front of him. “Have you planned which ones you want to go for first?”
I shook my head. “I’m not allowed to use the Z-Moves in the League, or in gym battles. That’s part of my Trial.”
Hala seemed to settle his laughter, though he was still smiling. “The Tapu wants you to prove you’re capable of grand achievements without the power.”
“Apparently beating you wasn’t enough,” I said with a chuckle.
“I’m hardly a challenge,” Hala said with a shake of his head. “But, still.” He suddenly tossed something towards me, and I raised up my hand to catch it.
I looked down at the object in my hand and arched a brow. “That easy?” I asked, looking down at the little orange crystal in my hand, noting the little fist emblem that was in the middle. Fightinium Z.
“You beat me. And if the Tapu accepts you, that means I’d be a really stubborn old man to deny you a reward for doing a Trial,” he said with a bit of a rough tone, but he had a smile on his face.
With a nod, I moved it closer to the band and was slightly unnerved as some little things grew from the roots and grasped it. I wasn’t sure if Hala noticed, but Kukui sure did and he came closer to examine the Z-Power Ring that I had been given. I held up my arm so he could get a better look. “This one is… very old. Hala, do you know who this belonged to?”
From the expression on Hala’s face, it was as if he had noticed something. But he shook his head. “No. Before my time, I think.” He shifted his arm a bit so that he could hold his own Z-Power Ring next to mine. “Without even looking at the band, you can tell it’s very different. Look, it’s even carved differently.” He was pointing out different spots.
While comparing the two, mine definitely looked to be in rough shape. And it wasn’t carved or polished as nicely. “One of the first ones?” I suddenly asked, running a finger over the face and feeling the rough surface.
“Definitely one of the old ones,” he said with a nod. “It’s not the first one that was carved, or even part of that group. I’ve seen them.” He paused, continuing to look it over. “The real question is, why did the Tapu give you this one?”
I smirked a bit at him. “Maybe they didn’t trust you to carve me one?”
He laughed, and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like something I’d do.” He turned away, still laughing as he waved. “Alola!”
The five of us just stood there, watching him go. “He’s weird,” Scoly said softly from over my shoulder, hoping to not be heard by the retreating man. “Is he an enemy, or not?”
I reached up and started to rub between her horns. “Yeah. I’m not sure.”
“Sorry about Hala,” Kukui said with a bit of a nervous laugh. “He’s uh… not really a fan of foreigners. The Association has been pushing really hard to get a foothold here, and they’ve not been gentle about it.”
“With how much money there is in tourism, I can understand that.” We both watched as Hala went back into his house, the wall still had a Poliwrath shaped indent in it. With a bit of a laugh the three of us started to make our way back to the beach.
“But back to my other point.” Kukui looked at me as we walked, giving me a rather uncharacteristically scrutinizing look. “How many crystals do you plan on getting?”
“Eventually, all of them. But for now, I’ll settle for getting Primarium, Normalium, Dragonium, Fairium, and Groundium.” Considering what Trial Tapu Koko had given me, I was going to have to cut my trip here in Alola short. I had planned to spend the three months doing Trials and collecting all the Z-Crystals before trying the League without trying too hard the first go around, but now I’d have to go all out. Maybe get some other gimmick for emergency use?
I doubt they would allow Gigantamax in the Kalos league, but Terastallization might be a good idea. But the Terastal phenomenon has a lot more restrictions. Maybe hunting Mega Stones would be a better option?
Or I could just wing it and hope for the best. Since this was supposed to be a Trial to prove that I wouldn’t abuse the power I was given, it would probably be in poor taste to go seeking some other power to use. So Mega Stones then, since others would also have access to them.
“So a few of them then?” Kukui asked, a hand under his chin as he seemed to think it over. “I might be able to help with the Normalium in a few days, but the others you’re pretty much on your own.”
I smiled a bit. “Yanno, you’re much more willing to help than everyone else about all this.”
He laughed, and rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I may not like the Association but… I dunno, I think the islands having their own League is a good idea. And-” he hesitated before looking around to make sure there was no one around. “It’s inevitable.”
There was a puzzled expression on my face. “Inevitable?”
“This was always going to be the case the moment that the Kahuna allowed the Association to influence the island,” he said with a bit of a laugh, though it was dry and humorless. “With all the people coming to the island, it would be impossible to not have others be seen as worthy by the Tapu.”
All I could really do was nod in agreement. I could think of figures that had done just that, Ash being one of them. We walked in silence for a few minutes, Scoly constantly bumping playfully into me, demanding I pet her more. Of course I didn’t take much convincing, as I liked the feeling of her shell. It was smooth, and warm to the touch.
Eventually I decided to break the silence. “I don’t like the Association.” They weren’t part of the show, or any official media. They were something that existed here and made me question whether any of my knowledge or events were helpful. “They give me such a bad vibe,” I added. It wasn’t just because I had a problem with authoritative figures like that, but there was something about them that put me on edge. They weren’t the government, but they sure tried to act like they held all the authority.
This time all he did was nod in agreement. He decided to change the subject, “How long do you plan on being in Alola?”
“In a hurry to get rid of me?” I said with a chuckle. “A few weeks, I suppose? I’m on a journey to see the world, so I’ll be taking my time with the Trials.”
He rubbed his chin a bit with a thoughtful expression. “There’s a lot of world to see.”
“I’m not in a hurry. There’s no point in going to a place and not experiencing it.” I waved a hand vaguely in the air. “It’s not like I’m going places just to say I’ve been there. I want to see them, and the Pokemon that live there.”
A chuckle seemed to escape him and he pat me on the shoulder. “You’re like one of those Explorers, eh?”
“Explorers?” I looked at him, furrowing my brow a bit. This was the first time I’d heard about them.
“Ah, well. They’re technically part of the Ranger Society so I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of them if you don’t have a lot of interactions with Rangers.” That was true, I hadn’t met a single Ranger in my time being here.
“I’m guessing that Explorers go out and explore stuff?”
He nodded. “They’re the ones who draw all the maps of places, and go out into the world. It was an Explorer who discovered Alola a few decades ago.”
“Maps?” I suddenly had an idea. “Do you have a world map? I’ve actually never seen one.”
He arched an eyebrow at me, but after thinking about it for a moment he shrugged. “Okay, that’s not as surprising as I think… We got one back at the lab as part of the ‘Welcome to the Association’ gift basket.”
I could actually see the lab building not far off from where we were, as it was where we were heading. “I’d like to see it.”
~
In the research center, I was now standing alone in a room, staring at the large map on the wall. It really opened my eyes to just how wrong I thought the geography of this Pokemon world was. I had thought of it in terms of my old world, thinking that Alola was far to the West of Kalos, with Unova between it. But no. Alola was South East. If we went West and a bit North, there were the Orange Islands. I was closer to Kanto than anything else. I was right about Unova being between here and Kalos, but that was extremely far away. No wonder it took so long to get here.
What was oddly unnerving was that all of this was mostly the Northern hemisphere of whatever Pokemon planet I was on. Alola was South of the equator, while the Orange Islands were North. Outside of the established places in the games and anime, the rest of the map was blank. Though there were notations at either side suggesting another continent, as well as other marks scattered about to indicate possible islands.
This world was so much bigger than I had thought.
I couldn’t quite tell if it was larger than the world I had come from, since it wasn’t fully explored, but just from this… unless the other continent wasn’t very large, it was probably bigger. Trying to equate it to my old world, the entire map spanned from Europe, through Russia, and then entirely across Canada. Even using that scale, the equator seemed lower as well, so it had to be larger.
I could have probably mathed it out, if I had the Northernmost point, but that was unmapped as well. Another notation of some sort of frozen continent. Before leaving, I took several pictures of the map.
As I stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the beach, I looked down at all the training Pokemon. They had all been so eager to get back to training that they had taken my bag and gone and set up camp while I was studying the map. Their drive to gain strength was honestly fascinating.
I watched them for a few minutes until they all suddenly stopped and looked over at the tent. I was puzzled for a moment until Cara ran over to the tent and retrieved my phone. With a bit of a wave, I got her attention so she knew where I was and she leapt over. She had cleared a surprising distance, but that was just one of the ways she's figured out to use Extreme Speed. “You have a phone call,” she said, standing on the railing and holding the ringing phone out to me.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile as I took the phone. I glanced at the screen as she jumped back to the group, the railing buckling slightly from the force of her leap. It was Professor Sycamore. That caught me off guard, and I wondered why he would be calling. Hitting the button I opened with, “Alola, Professor. What’s up?”
“Hello Jason,” he said with a smile. “Sorry it took me a while to get back to you. You still in Alola? How is it?”
“Pretty good,” I said as I leaned against the railing. “Good weather. Good Pokemon.”
He gave a bit of a nod. “I just wanted to follow up on things, and let you know that… the device is gone.”
My brow arched a bit. “Gone?”
Again he nodded. “Disappeared overnight. All the footage is gone. No one saw anything. Or heard anything. Just… poof.” He gestured vaguely with a hand. “Can’t say if it was Team Flare, or someone else but…” He shook his head.
I frowned. “That’s annoying… Did you find out anything?”
“I actually did. You were right about there being a dusk stone. As well as an artificial Mega Stone. Unfortunately it was broken in the fight, but there was evidence that it was already cracked when the device was activated.” He was leaning against the railing outside his lab, the same place he’d called previously. “I can show you a lot more when you get back. I’m keeping a very close eye on the data.”
That was another reason to cut my trip short. “Do you think that’s why they went berserk? Because it was a cracked stone?”
He nodded and sighed. “Yeah… And what’s worse is I can’t find the kid, his Pokemon, or the father.”
“That…” I stopped, unable to really form my thoughts into words. This was just more evidence that there were a lot of powerful people in this world who were not afraid of the consequences of their actions.
“I just wanted to tell you that.” I could see him look over at something and give a slight wave. “I have to go. Be careful, alright?”
“Alright. Thanks Professor. Talk to you later.” He nodded and hung up.
A rather heavy sigh escaped me as I put my phone in my pocket. Should I have gotten involved more in this? That was something I had been struggling with since I got here. Everything should be fine as long as I don’t get involved, but what if it’s not? This wasn’t any sort of plot in the games or anime. But I could make things worse. What if I try to interfere and end up changing something that ends up dooming the entire world.
I had been pushing all that worry to the back of my mind, because there was no way of knowing when anything would happen. I could assume that the anime events would follow Ash, but what about everything else? There were dozens of events that may or may not happen. Things that could have already happened, or would never happen.
There was this slight nagging feeling that I should be trying to do something. That I should say something. But what if I made things worse? That was more of a real possibility than me actually being able to fix things. The problem with knowing the future is that if you tell anyone, you immediately change the future. You’ve altered the perception of what time and the future is, and now the events will most likely be different due to the shift in perception from the person or people you’ve told. I’ve already been playing too loose with my information and have probably drastically changed things.
Of course the argument could be made that my very existence had already altered the flow of events. But if I remained out of it, then things should still happen as usual.
This was annoying. But what would I even do? I could sit and wait somewhere, preparing for an event, but what if something else happened and I missed the event that I was waiting on. All that preparation wasted, while other events happened.
It’s not like I’m some hero. Not someone with the luck to be able to fight huge organizations. I couldn’t even win a fight with the school board.
And that’s not even to say that anyone would believe me. Oak might, but it was clear that Sycamore was still skeptical of me being from another world. There are a lot of things he’s not telling me.
Then if I told someone who could actually do something and they did believe me, people would demand to know how I knew. The lengths that someone like Lysandre, Giovanni, Cyrus, or the head of the Association, would go through to have the knowledge in my head… that scared me. At least it seemed like Professor Sycamore was aware of Team Flare.
I didn’t want any of that. I just want to have a journey and make friends with Pokemon. “Arceus you better not have sent me here to try and save the world,” I said with another sigh. This was something to shelve and ignore for now.
“What’s wrong?” Cara asked, having come back.
I blinked a bit, looking over at her. She looked concerned. “Nothing. Just…not good news.”
She leaned against the railing next to me. “Your aura fluctuated really bad a moment ago.”
I laughed, and shook my head. “You can see it all the way from down there, huh?”
All she did was nod.
There were a few moments of silence as I tried to collect my thoughts. “It’s not my problem, until it is,” I decided with a nod. I’d not worry about any of it until it actually affected me or was placed in front of me. As far as I was concerned, the only thing I needed to worry about was this fake Mega Stone thing, since it wasn’t a plot I knew.
Cara just gave me a puzzled look and I reached over and scratched behind her ears. She leaned into my hand and I couldn’t help but reach over and scratch under her chin with my other hand. Her tail thumped against the railing, though she had a passive expression on her face. What an adorable dog.
Eventually we made our way back down to the beach, which was an absolute mess. There was a sort of four way battle going on between Rio, Scoly, Dee, and Diancie. And they were not holding back at all. Rio was still struggling with her aura. She was leaning into her abnormal strength to compensate, but she was getting hit a lot. When I asked Cara about why she was so strong, she didn’t have an answer, saying that neither her father or herself were ever that strong.
Scoly was mostly being used in a similar manner to the striking balls, and constantly pinging back and forth between the other three. Dee was taking a lot of hits, but she was just healing after everything, although I could see that she was getting tired. Even Diancie was starting to show that she was taking a beating and getting tired, not floating as high as normal.
Brionne had gone off with the group of Primarina again. Mikyu, Banette, and Keo had joined Goomy in trying to do laps around the Gravity zone. I was surprised at their progress, especially Keo who could actually move better than Goomy already. The little ice fox was actually running, though not very fast. Eevee was doing her best to sit in the Gravity for short periods before retreating out before it became too much for her.
“Okay. That’s enough,” I called out and everyone immediately came to a stop. It’s good that they were all such good listeners. We had already eaten curry for the day, so I didn’t want them to push too hard since they wouldn’t be getting the recovery benefit. “We’re supposed to be treating this as a vacation, and all y'all wanna do is train,” I said with a soft laugh.
“It’s fun,” Rio said with a bit of a huff.
Looking around, everyone seemed to be in agreement. I just sighed, and nodded. “Alright. But, if you’re going to train you have to do it properly. Not just throw around stuff at random.” I looked around at them all again. “Okay. We’ll train for a few days.”
That seemed to get them all excited, and a few of them cheered. Were all Pokemon like this, or had I just been lucky in getting a bunch of them that wanted to be stronger? I should ask them about that. Either way I made them all relax for the rest of the day while I worked out a new training regimen for them. We would train until Professor Kukui got me the Normalium, then I would see about getting the others. I’d ask the Primarina about getting Primarium, and for the others I’d go to Poni Island.
Eventually we all settled in for bed, and left future problems where they belonged. In the future.
~
A few days passed, and I had changed up everyone's training. Cara and Rio weren’t fighting. They were working on their aura. Cara was still a long way off of where she should be, and Rio was practically avoiding using her aura. I had to explain to her that was like entering a fight and keeping your eyes closed. That at least got her to realize it was important and try. But she was really bad at it. Was there some sort of thing where she sacrificed aura use for physical strength? After thinking about it, the best answer I could come up with was that she was subconsciously using her aura to empower herself, rather than manifest it.
I had Scoly start focusing on other moves that weren’t ball related. Which meant bug moves, like Bug Bite, Megahorn, and Pin Missile. Of course she wasn’t just standing still while this was happening, since Dee and Diancie were attacking her. Dee really wanted to do more support things rather than fighting, so I had her use Helping Hand, Safeguard, and Protect. I was a bit surprised she knew Protect, but I also understood.
Diancie was honestly the easiest to train, because she was already doing everything that she should. So I had her focus more on control of Diamond Storm, and had her try and intercept Scoly’s Pin Missile attack with the diamonds. She definitely preferred Ancient Power and throwing large boulders.
Brionne was spending all her time out learning from the Primarina. When I had asked them about Primarium they said I would have to talk to Alma for that. Alma was their bull. In the underwater cave. Which would mean I’d have to go under water. Didn’t like finding that out.
Goomy and Keo were almost to the point they could join in the actual battle training. I was surprised that Keo was actually getting used to the Gravity at such a rapid pace. She was now running laps while the other three walked. There was an almost scary look in her eyes every time I told her she had to stop to rest. If I didn’t watch her carefully, she would train until she hurt herself.
Banette was also adjusting well, and the only reason she wasn’t moving faster was because she liked to walk with Mikyu and Goomy. The little slug wasn’t very fast at doing laps on account of being a slug, and Mikyu was struggling because her costume wasn’t made to be under ten times Gravity. I would have to take her shopping for costume supplies soon.
It was the morning of the fourth day before Professor Kukui showed up. I knew he showed up because there was suddenly someone behind me shouting, “Alola!”
I actually jumped a bit at the sudden shout. I had been far too engrossed in correcting small errors and giving encouragement to really pay attention to the area around me. “Ah. Alola, Professor Kukui.”
He reached into his pocket and tossed a small object towards me. I caught it pretty easily, looking down at the small white crystal, a circular pattern inside. “Took a bit longer than I thought, but I managed to get one.”
“No Trial?” I asked as I moved it near my Z-Ring, which grabbed hold of it in an almost greedy way.
“Consider it a Trial of Patience,” he said with a chuckle.
I gave a sharp nod. “Thanks. One more thing off the list.”
He was still chuckling a bit. “So, what’s your next step? Poni Island?”
“Actually, I wanted to ask if you had some diving equipment I could borrow.” I could already feel my heart start to beat harder at just the thought.
“Diving equipment?” he questioned, putting a hand to his chin with a thoughtful expression.
“Alma is going to give me a Trial for Primarium.” I pointed out towards the water.
There was suddenly a frown on his face. “Ah, Alma… That’s not going to be easy. There’s a reason he’s not an official Totem anymore.”
“He was a Totem?”
“Still is.” Kukui folded his arms in front of him. “We just don’t encourage people to go to him for Trials. He’s…not got a good track record.”
I thought about it for a moment before shrugging. “Hardest parts going to be getting to him.”
He arched a brow at me.
Before he could answer, I continued. “I don’t do well with water.”
“Can’t swim?”
“Nah, I can swim just fine. Just have issues with it,” I said with a shrug.
There was a moment of silence before he nodded. “Alright. I’ve got some equipment you can use. Come on.”
~
About an hour later, I was standing on the beach, changed into a wetsuit. I had never worn one before, so it was a bit difficult to get on. Into? I wasn’t sure of the proper terminology. Currently, I was trying to distract myself with the face mask and rebreather, rather than think about what I was about to do. It was an extremely interesting bit of technology that actually pulled the air out of the water and allowed you to stay under indefinitely. Or at least nearly indefinitely, as the filters did need to be changed between thirty and forty hours of use.
Brionne was looking up at me expectantly while the Primarina were all out in the water. Waiting.
“Are you sure you don’t want anyone else to come?” Cara asked, looking down at the mask in my hands.
I sighed and shook my head. “No. It’s fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. I just… I just have to go.”
It wasn’t much of a struggle to move forward into the water. I was up to my waist, feeling the pounding of my heart. But looking out ahead was the worst. Seeing the massive and seemingly endless ocean caused my head to spin. I turned around, desperate to not look at it as I took deep breaths.
Brionne was swimming circles around me. “Do we really need the crystal thingy?” she asked, clearly noticing my distress.
I sighed again, closing my eyes for a moment before putting on the mask. I spent probably longer than necessary putting it on and making sure it fit properly. Looking back at all the Pokemon on the beach I was trying to decide if it was worse to face it and walk, or step backwards.
“Come on, come on!” One of the Primarina was suddenly there, circling round me.
“This is exciting! No one ever comes to see Alma!” another said, and they were trying to guide me into deeper water.
I let myself be guided, trying to pretend that I was doing anything but this. Before I got too deep, I knew I had to check the mask. I had to make sure it was working. Closing my eyes I dunked myself under the water and waited. The only thing I could hear was the pounding of my heart as I tried to stay calm.
Nothing happened.
Hesitantly I opened my eyes, and it was like I was suddenly in a different world. Again. The water, thankfully, was extremely clear and I could see very far. Everything was sort of wobbly, and the sand below me looked oddly fake. But it was the bright coral not very far away that really drew my attention, and the hundreds of Pokemon.
For a moment I forgot everything and was simply stunned. Schools of all manner of fish: Wishiwashi, Goldeen, Lovedisc, Finneon. Scattered other types, like Mantyke with attached Remoraids, a few Magikarp and Feebas. There was a pair of Crabrawler squaring up and making threatening gestures at each other.
A few curious Gorebyss following an Alomomola swam nearby me as a current slowly pulled me over the coral, which was full of even more life. There were Corsola scattered about, Barboach peeking from their hiding spots, and a few little Inkay floating nearby.
I’d never seen so many Pokemon in one place before. There was nowhere to look that wasn’t brimming with life. It almost made me forget that I was underwater. Almost. Not quite.
My heart was still pounding as I looked around for the Primarina and Brionne. Brionne hadn’t left my side, swimming around me happily. The current that was dragging me out was apparently being made by two of the Primarina.
It took me a moment to regain my bearings and I began swimming towards the two. “You swim like a Politoed!” one of the Primarina exclaimed, giggling. The other ones giggled as well.
Well, it was a breaststroke, but it has been called the frog stroke before, so I guess she’s not wrong. It was the form of swimming that I was most practiced in, and best at. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the only reason I even knew how to swim is there are people who don’t believe that you can be afraid of water. I was a bit rusty at the technique, but it was good enough that I could get around on my own.
I was just trying to keep moving, and distract myself by looking at the Pokemon around. We were moving farther and farther away from the beach and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest.
And then we found the shelf.
Every muscle in my body locked up and I couldn’t breathe. There was…nothing. It fell away into darkness and ahead was just vast emptiness. One of the Primarina was behind me, nudging me forward while Brionne put a flipper around my wrist and held on as I was dragged down.
No.
Nope.
Didn’t like this.
This was bad.
I’m going to die.
My body isn’t responding.
I can’t move.
I thought being paralyzed with fear was an exaggeration?
Am I really such a coward?
Does this count as cowardice?
I would say no, but I couldn’t speak right now even if I wanted to.
Darkness was creeping in at the edge of my vision.
I was going to pass out.
Breathe.
Breathe damn it.
If I pass out I’m going to die.
Breathe.
Please breathe.
Now everything's dark.
I’ve passed out.
I’m going to die.
I’m dead.
No…
Wait.
I’m in a cave.
Suddenly I broke through the surface of the water. I tore off my mask, tossing it away as I scrambled onto the cold, wet ground nearby. I was gasping, my entire body shaking. I could feel tears streaming down my face and my heart was pounding so hard it was giving me a headache.
I threw up.
It took several minutes before I felt like I could actually breathe instead of just suck in air. That was when I noticed Brionne was beside me, clinging to me and desperately asking if I was okay. She was crying. Asking me what was wrong. I closed my eyes as I shifted into a sitting position and pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay…” I said softly, wiping tears off of my face and taking deep breaths. “I’m okay. That was… That was just… That was too much.”
I felt extremely weak, like all my limbs were full of cement. Like Diancie had just cranked up her Gravity to twenty times. And I was still shaking. “What a strange reaction,” came a voice, rather deep, though melodious. Sort of in the baritone range.
Looking over I saw an absolutely massive Primarina. They were easily three times the normal size. This was clearly a Totem Pokemon. “I’m… I’m afraid of water…” I managed to say, still trying to catch my breath. “It’s…an irrational fear, caused by the trauma of drowning as a toddler.” Explaining and rationalizing it was a good way to calm myself down.
“You’re afraid of water. And want to raise up a water Pokemon?” While his voice sounded a bit skeptical, there was also a sort of warmth to it that surprised me.
I was still petting Brionne, who was shaking a bit. Or maybe she was shaking because I was still shaking, I couldn’t quite tell. “I don’t see how those are related.”
There was a rather intense musical laughter that suddenly filled the cavern. “Unrelated? I do not see how you can have one without the other. But… I believe that I understand.” There was a sudden shifting and he moved closer. The room was dimly lit by something that I couldn’t see, but it meant that I couldn’t get a good look at him. Now that he came closer I could see more of him. On top of being massive, he was absolutely jacked and covered in scars. “I am Alma. This little one has told me much about you, Jace.”
“Has she now?” I looked down at Brionne. There was a rather intense pressure from being close to the Totem Primarina. It was a strange sense of just being able to feel how powerful they were by being in their presence, and I had never felt this way before.
“She has. And I have heard from others as well.” There was a pause before he nodded. “I had first thought to give you a Trial. But it seems like in this case, the Trial for you was simply getting here.”
“I had help.” I wasn’t about to claim that I had come here of my own wish.
“True. But you started the journey, correct? You stepped into this ocean despite your fear, for the sake of this little one. They have told me about you. What you have done. The lengths you’ve gone for her sake, and the sake of the rest of your family.” He shifted a bit and then held out his hand. His hand was damn near bigger than me. But in his hand was a small blue crystal, with the symbol of a Primarina in it. “But in exchange for this being your Trial, I have a request.”
My hand stopped, as I was already reaching out to grasp the Primarium. “If I can help, I will.”
Again the cave filled with laughter. “That is what this little one said you would say.” There was a smile on his face. “Tell those outside that… That I am sorry.” There was a moment of silence as the smile on his face became rather solemn. “I am…old. And tired. My end is soon. And I wish for them to know that I say goodbye. To the Kahuna.”
“I-” I took a moment, nodding. “I can- I can help with that. But it would be better for you to do it face to face.”
He took in a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment, thinking over my words. “It has been long since I have been to the beach… I shall accompany you there.”
We didn’t leave immediately, instead he told me about what had happened. His injury. His age. He had lived an extremely long time, and while he considered that he could live longer, he was tired and in pain. He wanted this life to come to a close. So he wasn’t going to fight it anymore. There would be one more generation of his offspring, and then someone new would have to take his place. We spoke of those who had come to him for Trials in the past, and particularly about those that he truly believed had a lot of potential. I realized a bit into the conversation that he was giving me time to calm down and regain my bearings.
Eventually he decided that it was time to go and I had to have Brionne get my mask. This time before leaving the cave I shut my eyes, trusting in Brionne to guide me back. I didn’t open my eyes again until I touched sand, and then I quickly exited the water. Everyone was going about their own thing until I arrived, and behind me was the massive Totem Primarina.
Kukui was standing in the research center and rushed down when he saw them. I went towards the research center to get out of the wetsuit, planning to not engage him until I’d cleaned up, but he intercepted me. “What’s going on? Why’s he come here?” Kukui asked me in a hushed tone the moment he got to me.
“You should…call the Kahuna… He-” I hesitated, the words catching in my throat a bit. This sort of thing was never easy. “He wishes to say goodbye.”
I could see the way that the words Kukui were going to say caught in a similar manner to how mine had just done. Eventually he nodded and pulled out his phone. “How long does he have?”
“He didn’t say,” I said softly, shaking my head. “He just said that his time is approaching.”
Kukui gave me a nod as he walked away. I saw him hesitate for a moment before pulling out his phone and making a phone call. I turned my attention back to Alma, who was conversing with the other Primarina. From the looks on their faces and the tears in their eyes, he was explaining things to them.
Cara and Dee had taken it upon themselves to round everyone up and explain things to them. Meanwhile I went back to the locker room that I had used earlier to shower and change back into my clothes. By the time I returned, the atmosphere was pretty solemn, and everyone had a rather sad expression.
I took a moment to assess the situation, and eventually nodded to myself. “Dee, Banette, Mikyu. Could you come and help me?” I asked as I tossed my coat into the tent before starting to pull out my cooking pots. “Cara, can you ask all the Primarina what flavors they like?”
~
By the time any of the Kahuna had arrived, the mood had shifted and there was quite a party going on on the beach. Kukui had actually gone into the lab, and with Burnet’s help we had actually set up quite a lot. I was busy making plates of curry, while Kukui was barbecuing beside me. It was a bit of a contrast, and I didn’t know what he was cooking, nor did I ask. But it turns out the man knows how to barbecue.
Olivia and Hapu were the first to show up. Olivia was a rather tall woman with a darker complexion. Her hair was rather short, not touching her shoulders. Her outfit was more like a bathing suit than actual clothes, and she had numerous hoops and bangles around her wrists and ankles. Hapu was quite the contrast, short and on the younger looking side. A purple bonnet holding large ponytails, and a tan work outfit. Both of them seemed quite surprised to see the festivities. “Kukui?” Olivia was the first to speak as she came over. “What’s going on? I thought this was…”
“It was Jason’s idea,” he said, immediately throwing me under the bus to avoid any sort of repercussions.
“It’s a celebration of life,” I said when their gaze turned towards me. “A sort of living wake.”
“What’s a wake?” Hapu asked, her prominent eyebrows furrowing.
“Well, that’s when you’re not sleepin’,” I said with a laugh. Only Kukui and the nearby Pokemon seemed to get the joke, since it was now my third time making it. Though I heard the way that Rio and Scoly groaned. I just smiled a bit before actually explaining, “It’s a celebration of the life that they’ve lived, rather than mourn their passing. A sort of happier funeral that they get to attend.”
I looked over at the Totem Primarina, who looked to be in a good mood surrounded by his little harem and being served food. Apparently the next clutch of eggs had already been laid, they just hadn’t hatched yet. “He probably won’t make it to the next hatching,” Kukui said to the two of them, taking a bit of a more somber tone. He had gone and spoken privately with Alma earlier.
“Was it his injuries?” Hapu asked, also looking in the direction of the group. “Or his age?”
“Both,” I said as I held out a plate to each of them.
They took them after a moment, and I turned to continue prepping food. We were just about done making enough food for everyone, and the other Kahuna’s who hadn’t shown up yet. I had underestimated how much a Pokemon of that size could eat, and so the first few pots went straight into him. I needed to go shopping again…
I had just sat down to eat my own food when Hala arrived. There were quite a number of people with him, and it looked like they had brought more food and things for a party. I guess Kukui had messaged them about it after I'd made the suggestion.
Rather than sit with a bunch of people I didn’t know, I sat with the Pokemon. From where I sat, I could see Hala and the Totem Primarina having a conversation. “How’d he get so strong?” Rio asked as she laid down beside me, resting her head on my thigh as she studied the large Pokemon in the distance.
“They were bathed in energy from a different dimension,” I said as I tried not to think too hard about the barbecued meat on my plate. I held up my arm, showing her my Z-Power Ring. “These come from that place, too.”
She frowned. “So he cheated.”
I laughed. “You could look at it that way, yeah. But, if it hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have Z-Crystals, and couldn’t use Z-moves.”
She folded her arms in front of her, her legs crossed as well. It looked like she was frustrated. “Still feels like cheating.”
“Yeah. But some will consider our training methods cheating.” Her face scrunched up a bit at that realization. “Some will say that we didn’t work hard enough to get to the level we’re on and blah blah blah.” I shook my head, chuckling.
Looking over at the Totem Pokemon, he and Hala were still in conversation, though Hala looked a lot more comfortable. Alma still had that sort of relaxed aloof air that he seemed to always have.
Suddenly there was a Keo resting on my other thigh. She looked tired, and just sort of nestled in and closed her eyes with a bit of a huff. I arched a brow down at her, but started to pet her. “Something wrong?” I asked softly.
“I wanna train more,” she responded in a similarly soft way, her eyes locked on the Totem Primarina.
I rubbed the top of her head. Rio sighed and reached up towards the sky, her eyes also staring at the large Pokemon. “The road is long.”
I chuckled a bit, nodding. “The road is long. But if a little mouse can challenge God, then anyone can.”
Both of them gave me a puzzled look.
But I refused to elaborate. As I ate I took the time to see what everyone was doing. Cara was meditating, with a rather intense expression on her face. Seeing a Totem Pokemon was an intense feeling, and I’m sure her Aura Sense showed her just how wide the gap was. It wasn’t like in the games where you battled the Totem, or if you did they probably took it easy on you to test you. They were bigger and immensely more powerful, approaching the realm of pureblood Legendary Pokemon, at least as far as Kukui explained it.
Scoly, Dee, and Brionne were all playing in the water with the Primarina. Diancie was with them, but she was mostly just observing and not actually playing with them. Eevee, Goomy, Mikyu, and Banette were all building sandcastles. I’m not sure where they got a shovel and pail, but they were making some rather impressive sculptures thanks to the two ghost Pokemon using shadows to shape them.
As for the other humans, Kukui had been dragged back into barbecuing for the new influx of people. Nanu had shown up, but he was keeping his distance from everyone and remained near the research center rather than come out onto the beach. There was an Officer Jenny next to him, who seemed to be giving him some sort of report. I hadn’t had any interaction with the International Police yet, but they didn’t seem to have a good foothold here, or even in Kalos.
Nanu seemed to feel that I was looking at him as his gaze turned towards me. There was a moment where we locked eyes, and I just gave him a slight nod. He returned the nod before going back to watching the Totem Primarina. I didn’t know what the old Pokemon had done, but apparently it was enough to get everyone on edge.
Rio went to join her mother in meditating after I suggested she work a bit more on her aura. And Keo went over to build sand castles, leaving me alone for the moment. However, I wasn’t alone for long, as Hapu came over. It was a rather humorous sight, given that I was sitting, and she was standing, but we were almost face to face. “Kukui said you plan on taking my Island Trials.”
I nodded. “I decided to spend less time on the islands this trip, and your Trials give useful crystals.” The only one that wasn’t super useful to me at the moment was Groundium, but Poni Island only had four crystals, and so it would be a short jaunt. I didn’t quite know if I could get Poisonium on that island, but I was hoping that I’d manage.
She nodded. “I’ve been told by Hala to not go easy on you.”
A smirk formed on my face. “Honestly I’d appreciate that. I’m starting to feel like I’m getting all these things too easily,” I said as I held up my wrist, showing the two that I already had. Which also reminded me that I hadn’t gotten the Primarium from the Primarina.
She took a moment to examine my Z-Ring before nodding. There was a smile on her face. “I’m looking forward to it. Alola,” she said as she walked off.
“Alola,” I replied with a bit of a smile. She was at least not as aggressive as Hala had been. Though I figured if anyone was going to give me a hard time at this point it was going to be Olivia. Maybe Nanu, considering the other people he was associated with… If I wasn’t careful, I was going to end up on Giovanni’s radar, if I wasn’t already.
As time went on and the sun started to go down, people started to leave. No one else had come to talk with me, so I spent my time watching over the Pokemon. Hala left once he was done talking with the Totem Primarina, and to my surprise it was Nanu who went to talk to him next. Though their conversation was short, Nanu seemed satisfied as he left.
Eventually everyone had left, and Alma approached me. “Thank you,” he said, a smile on his face.
I waved a hand a bit. “I’m just glad that I could help.” He shifted a bit and then held out his massive flipper of a hand, again offering me the Primarium. This time I didn’t hesitate as I reached out to take it, allowing it to be grabbed by my Z-Ring. “At least now I feel a bit more like I earned this.”
He laughed softly as he laid down, settling into the sand. I hadn’t noticed it earlier, or when we were in the cave, but he looked so tired. Every movement seemed to be a struggle. His gaze was far off, looking at the edge of the sea. “Still. Thank you for indulging this old man.” For the first time he seemed to relax, a smile on his face.
Silence fell between the two of us as we both looked out over the ocean. We just watched it as the sun set over the island behind us. As the last rays dipped over the mountain, I turned towards his massive figure, wanting to ask him a question. But I hesitated. There in the distance was a figure that I recognized immediately.
White hair, sunglasses that had one lens squished. Gold chain with a matching gold skull emblem. White shirt and shoes, black coat, and black pants. He had a rather complicated expression on his face as he looked at the Totem Pokemon. As if he was trying to keep a fierce gaze, but also trying not to cry.
To my surprise, Alma actually smiled more after turning to look at the new arrival. “Ah… Guzma.” He genuinely looked pleased to see him.
However Guzma didn’t respond, just staring up at the old Pokemon as he approached. He stood there, almost defiantly, trying to look tough. But I could see the way that his eyes were studying the Pokemon with an unsure glint. It took almost a full minute before he finally spoke, “You’re still alive.”
“For the time being,” Alma said with that melodious laugh.
Guzma just stared for a moment, still searching with his eyes, until his gaze finally landed on me. “You’re that Pokemon Expert.”
I nodded. “Alola. I’m Jason, but I prefer Jace.”
He stared at me for a moment, very clearly looking down at me. “Guzma.”
Again I nodded. “I know.”
“Yeah? Did Hala or Kukui tell you about me?” he sneered, the look on his face becoming even harsher.
This time I shook my head. “No. From Alma,” I said as I gestured at the Totem Primarina. That seemed to take some of the fierceness from his face as he looked at him.
Alma shifted, wincing a bit as he did, getting into a more comfortable position. “I did not lie when I said you would be great.”
That seemed to fully take the air out of him. It looked like Guzma was really good at interpreting what Pokemon said. He clenched his fists as he turned away. “Whatever.” It looked like he was about to leave, but then he saw all the Pokemon. He seemed to hesitate. “Are all those yours?”
I nodded, even though he was turned away. “Yeah.”
“And you beat Hala with them?”
“I did.”
He seemed to mull that over in his head a moment before he walked off.
Again I was struck with that question of if I should interfere or not as I watched him walk away. Guzma and Team Skull were more like kids playing as thugs rather than actual villains. It was Lusamine who really twisted them.
“If you knew the future,” I said after a moment, “And you knew it got bad, but everything works out just fine in the end, what would you do?”
Alma shifted his gaze from Guzma to me. “Is it about that boy?”
I nodded.
“Does he die?”
I shook my head. “No. But he loses a lot.”
The large Pokemon seemed to think about it a moment. “That boy has been through a lot already. Everyone looks down on him, and so he lashes out. He is still just a child, and just needs guidance.” There was a pause. “I would help him.”
“Even if it made things worse? Even if, as it is now, everything is fine in the end. And your changes could bring about a worse future.” This had been nagging me for so long.
“That does make it difficult,” he agreed. “But there is a chance you could make it better, right?”
I sighed softly, and nodded as I stood up. “Yeah… Yeah, I can.” I took a few steps and called out towards my Pokemon. “Scoly!”
There was a small explosion in the ocean as a red streak shot towards me, sliding through the sand and then past me. “Yes?” the large bug horse asked excitedly, still not quite used to running at full speed on sand.
“See that guy down the beach?” I asked as I got up onto her back. She nodded. “Get me over to him.”
Although I couldn’t entirely see her face, I knew she was smiling just before she started to kick up sand and practically fly down the beach.
It took only a few moments before we slid to a stop just past him, startling him. I leapt from Scoly’s back, landing in the sand a few feet away from him. “Guzma. I challenge you to a battle.”
Chapter 10
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Lucario - Daughter of Cara
Scoly - Scolipede - Adopted daughter of Cara
Brionne - Brionne - Rescued from aquarium
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Taken from Pokecenter
Goomy - Goomy - Clinging for dear life
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart
Banette - Banette - Collected from the Supermart
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - Taken from Pokecenter
Chapter Text
“Guzma. I challenge you to a battle.” I stood in front of him, a smile on my face and my hands on my hips. He just looked annoyed, his arms folded across his chest. “One versus one, my Scolipede against whoever you want. No swaps.”
He glanced down at my wrist, frowning. “Why should I accept?”
I caught where he was looking and removed the band, tossing it into the sand at my side. “No Z-Moves.” His brow arched, glancing at the Z-Ring in the sand and then back at me. I know Guzma wanted to prove that he could beat everyone without using Z-Power, and he had done a very good job of it. “Just the strength of our two Pokemon.”
“What do I get if I win?” he asked, his eyes now looking over Scoly.
“What do you want?”
It took a moment before a smirk appeared on his face. “Give up your Z-Ring, and abandon the Trials,” he said, raising his chin a bit.
“Deal,” I said instantly and watched as he flinched, making quite a shocked expression. “And when I win, you and I are going to sit down and have a long conversation.”
His face scrunched up a bit as he looked from Scoly to the Z-Ring, and then to me. “Fine.” He turned and walked away, making proper space for the battle. He was still eying Scoly over his shoulder, studying her.
“She’s a bug poison type,” I said, knowing that he had a thing for bug Pokemon.
“I know,” he snapped, frowning at me. He had his hand in his pocket, a rather serious expression on his face.
Ah so that was it. He was debating on who to use. I didn’t know if he had his full team roster, but I would have to assume that he did. And if that was the case the question was, would he use Masquerain for the type advantage, or Scizor for the poison immunity. Or would he ignore all that, and simply throw out Golisopod to prove that he didn’t need to rely on types to win, which was his style.
I was taking a bit of a gamble with this. If he was the Guzma that I knew about, I had a pretty good idea of who he would choose. And if he did anything else, I would have to make him regret it and not waste anymore time on him. If he didn’t do what I expected it meant that he was very different from the games or anime and I wouldn’t be able to predict him. However, such thoughts were meaningless as he did exactly as I thought he would. The Pokemon he sent out was a large arthropod with a hunched posture, and several arms. Its purple body was covered with a silver colored carapace, and it has a sort of mask formed from its mandibles. Golisopod was a lot larger than I thought it would be, but Scoly was much larger.
Scoly moved forward, entering the area for the makeshift battle area and entering a stance. She specifically stood off to the side, rather than directly in front of me. At least she had learned more about how sand worked. “Ready?” I called out.
He glared at me. “Ready.”
“Plaay baaall,” I announced as I pointed up to the sky. There was a brief puzzled expression on Guzma’s face before Scoly sprang up and curled before spinning up. Immediately a wave of sand sprayed out behind her, barely missing me.
While he was surprised, Guzma didn’t hesitate. “Prep.” His Golisopod raised its arms, its shell taking on a far more metallic sheen.
It took a few seconds for Scoly to rev up to max speed, as she was still getting used to sand it took a bit longer than usual, but the instant she was done she became a red streak. There was an ear splitting noise of metal grinding against metal as the two collided. The other bug tried to stand its ground, but the two of them slid back several feet past Guzma.
Despite her still spinning, the Golisopod grabbed hold of her, or tried to, her form grinding into his hands. The thick purple goop of her poison splattering everywhere and causing Guzma to take several steps back. There was a sudden massive burst of water from his mouth that sent Scoly flying back, skipping and bouncing several times off the ground before she managed to regain herself. That had been an extremely high pressure burst, probably Hydro Pump?
“What move is that?” Guzma asked, his brow furrowed.
“Venom Steel Ball. Something she made,” I explained, Scoly rapidly trying to come back around for another assault.
His expression changed, suddenly far less stern. It was contemplative, almost confused, as if the thought to do that had never crossed his mind. “You made up your own move? Protect,” he finished with an order, and the sudden burst of shield caused Scoly to ping off and be deflected to the side.
“If you understand how moves work, and how Pokemon use their energy, it’s possible.” I waved a hand vaguely. “More luck than anything, though.” This particular move also didn’t last very long, though from the look of Golisopod, it had done some damage and poisoned them. “Hit in front and reverse direction,” I ordered. I had noticed a sudden glint around the edges of their carapace, giving it a razor edge.
Guzma had trained his Pokemon very well, and they were quite in sync. If this had been the Guzma from the game, or from the show, I don’t think I would have had a chance. But he was still young, and at least a few years from that level.
The sudden change caught the gray arthropod off guard, as it braced itself for another hit and catch, instead it was blasted with sand. While not quite the same as using Sand Attack, it had a similar effect. Afterwards Scoly sprung up, wobbling a bit. That was also one of the drawbacks of her attack, she was dizzy afterwards.
“Venoshock,” I said, trying to get her to refocus on the match. Unfortunately due to her state, she missed, splattering the ground a bit away from her target.
Fortunately the Golisopod wasn’t in much better of a shape with sand in its eyes. It tried to grab her, but mostly just flailed in her direction. There were a few grinding noises as if a blade hit metal, each one leaving a little mark.
She suddenly reared back, swaying slightly as her horns started glowing. The other bug stumbled as he overcompensated a swing and left himself open. “Dodge!” Guzma shouted.
Watching Scoly, I thought she was going to use Megahorn, which wouldn’t have been the best move considering her opponent was also a bug type. I was even thinking of how to better explain it, but then I noticed that the light coming from her horns wasn’t the dull green of bug energy, but a silver blue. Was she using Iron Tail with her horns? We hadn’t practiced that, but considering how often she sparred with Rio, and she tended to lean towards steel moves, being able to harness some of that was interesting.
Then she came down, twisting her body and aiming directly with the point of her horn. Then I realized what the move was; Smart Strike. That was better battle instincts than I had originally given her credit for. She was having trouble hitting, so she used a move that always hit. Or at least that’s how it worked in the games. In reality it probably just translated to higher accuracy? The way that Pokemon learned moves was fascinating, it was like they were pulling the knowledge of how to use them from somewhere, or was that just how the energy worked? Either way, she hit Golisopod straight in the side of the chest.
And that was enough to trigger his special ability. There was a sudden flash of red, and the arthropod returned to its pokeball.
Guzma stared blankly for a moment as if not quite sure what happened. “I lost,” he muttered before shoving his hands in his pockets.
I moved over and pulled my Z-Ring out of the sand, spending a moment to clean the sand off before putting it back on my wrist. Perhaps it was a bit cheap to rely on Golisopod’s Emergency Exit ability, but if he couldn’t plan around that, it wasn’t my fault. Turning back to him, I watched as he was slowly trying to walk away.
“Oi.” He froze. “Pokecenters that way,” I said as I pointed. “Come on.” Scoly came to my side as I began walking, clearly excited at her win.
Guzma followed, but he was clearly sulking. His hands stuffed in his pocket and his gaze locked on the ground in front of him.
Neither of us spoke the entire time, until we got into the Pokecenter. I returned Scoly before walking inside, she was a bit too big to get through the door easily. “Alola, Nurse Joy,” I said with a smile.
She returned my smile. “Alola, Jason.” She paused, glancing at the other person. “And Alola to you, too, Guzma.”
He sighed as he put his pokeball onto the tray. “Alola, Joy,” he mumbled before walking over and slumping into one of the chairs, folding his arms across his chest.
She looked a bit puzzled, looking at me as I put Scoly’s pokeball on the tray. “He lost.”
There was a look of understanding, and she nodded as she picked up the tray. “I’ll get these two looked over,” she said before turning around and walking through the door.
I moved over and sat down a few seats away from Guzma, leaning back in my chair and pulling out my phone. There was a text from Kukui asking what happened, since he could see the battle from the research center. I asked him how he got my number before explaining things to him. He ignored my question.
It was several minutes of me just working on my phone before my glum companion finally said something. “Aren’t we going to talk?” he said, clearly irritated.
“Do you want to talk?”
“No,” he snapped.
“Then we don’t have to,” I said with a bit of a smile before returning my attention to my phone. With someone like Guzma, trying to force the conversation would just make him dismissive.
It was a few more minutes before he spoke again, “How did that Scolipede learn to do that move?”
“Trial and error mostly.” I put my phone down on my lap. “A lot of the things that I’ve tried with all my Pokemon haven’t worked, but I’ve had some success. It’s still a flawed technique, as it requires a lot more energy than something like Rollout, or Gyro Ball. It takes a few seconds to ramp up to full speed, and leaves her dizzy afterwards.”
He leaned a bit forward as I spoke, listening closely to my explanation. “So she’s vulnerable before and after the attack.”
I nodded. “But while it’s going it’s very hard to deal with. What did Golisopod use that made the edges of his carapace so sharp?”
He looked a bit smug. “It’s a different way to use Razor Shell. Rather than throwing sharpened shells, he uses the energy to sharpen his own shell. I’ve trained him to use it if the opponent keeps using physical moves and has a high defense.”
“That sort of thinking is how Scoly got Venom Steel Ball,” I said with a nod. “Moves aren’t as rigid as most people think.”
“That’s what I was thinking when I first tried it out.” He sighed and leaned back. “But it’s the only thing that I’ve managed to do, and it’s just a different use for a move that already exists. It’s not like I invented a new move.”
“It’s the same with Venom Steel Ball.” I pulled up my phone and opened it to the notes that I had on moves. “Rather than being something completely new, it takes bits and pieces from half a dozen moves to make a new one.” I leaned a bit to show him. “We started with just Rollout and Poison Sting.”
He also leaned over to read over what I had written, his brow furrowing. “So you just kept trying to add things until you got something to stick?”
“Exactly,” I said with a smile.
He laughed softly, shaking his head. “And here I thought you had just pulled it out of your ass.”
“Things require work.” I put my phone down and sat back. “Sometimes the world gives you things easily, sometimes it takes, sometimes you have to bash your head into the wall until it crumbles.”
“I feel that,” he said with a heavy sigh. “It’s like… All I ever wanted was to be a Trial Captain. And when Hala told me no, I ran off to Ula’Ula Island to join their old Kahuna.” He rubbed his face. “Then things just… they happened so fast. I still don’t even know what happened, but suddenly the Guardian Deities descended and sacked Po Town.”
There was silence for a moment as I absorbed the information. This was a bit more information than I remembered.
“I wasn’t there. A lot of us weren’t there… Everyone who was is dead. And then the Guardian’s made Nanu the new Kahuna.” He scoffed, leaning forward with his elbows on his legs, and his head hung forward. “Putting a corrupt cop in charge? The Guardian’s must really not be as good a judge of character as everyone thinks.” He was silent for a moment. “And then we’re all… What? Supposed to just pick up the pieces and move on? Pretend a bunch of my friends didn’t die because we weren’t following tradition?” He took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “It just ain’t fair.”
“No. It isn’t.” I sighed softly, glancing over at the door to the Pokecenter, and then at the door Nurse Joy had disappeared behind. She was clearly giving us time to talk.
“I just… had to get everyone back under the same roof, ya know? We’re all rejects, so we had to band together. That’s why I formed Team Skull. Then there’s this whole League bullshit. We’ve already got so many problems with foreigners. And then what? I get beat by some random punk from off island like it was nothing…”
“Your loss is your own fault.” His head snapped towards me and I met his gaze. “You could have won if you chose another Pokemon. Or if you trained your Golisopod to only use Emergency Exit when it actually needs to.” I stood up, turning towards him. “You’re a good Trainer. I agree with Alma that you have great potential. But you’re scared.”
He was suddenly on his feet, up in my face. “What do you know, huh? I’ve got nothin’ to be scared of on this island. There ain’t a single person who’d mess with me, not even the Kahuna. You think I’m scared of you?”
“You’re scared you’re going to lose everything again.” Every muscle in his body seemed to tense at my words. “I don’t pretend to know everything. I know a lot, and I’m good at using that knowledge to my advantage. You lost to me because your Golisopod can feel your hesitation and fear. You want so badly to keep everything you have that you’d rather run away than risk it.”
His fists clenched and I knew he was considering hitting me at this point. “Don’t talk like you know me.”
“It’s okay to be scared, Guzma. There’s nothing wrong with being scared, it’s when you let that fear stop you that it becomes a problem. You’re a scared kid that life has been cruel to. And I’ve seen a lot of kids in that kind of situation. The hopelessness. The constant feeling of being trapped. Like at any moment everything will disappear.” I reached up and put my hand on his shoulder. “You’re a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for. Than the Kahuna give you credit for. Do you think people would follow you if you couldn’t do it?”
He stood there for a moment, a scowl on his face. Suddenly he shrugged off my hand and took a step back. “I’m not scared.”
“I am,” I said as I put my hands into my pockets. He just looked confused. “All the time. But when something scares me, I just do it scared. Like when I went to Alma.” There was an even more puzzled look on his face. I just smiled before explaining, “I’m scared of water. Large bodies of water like the ocean terrify me.”
He snorted. “You’re scared of water?”
I nodded. “Yup. But I’m not ashamed of it. There’s nothing wrong with being scared. Some people are scared of bugs.” He frowned at me. “But I love my big bug. Everyone has different fears, and sometimes they-” I shook my head a bit- “Don’t have a good explanation why they’re scared. But… sometimes they do.”
He was still glaring at me, though not as harshly as he was. “There’s nothing that scares me.”
With a bit of a shrug, I walked past him, patting him on the shoulder as I made my way to the counter. “Then don’t lose.”
As I got to the counter, Nurse Joy finally came out. There was a bit of a forced smile on her face, as she had been listening while trying to give us time to talk. “Here’s your Pokemon,” she said as she put the tray down, indicating which one was mine.
“Thank you Nurse Joy.” I turned and walked past Guzma on my way to the door. I paused in order to add, “Tradition is just peer pressure from the dead, but that doesn't make it a bad thing. But when it is, you have to make it change. Rather than fighting against that change, you should embrace it and be part of it. Alola.”
With that I left, releasing Scoly and getting onto her back. It was dark out, and I wondered briefly what everyone else was doing. As we made our way back to the beach I wondered if what I said would do anything. Had I been too harsh? Not harsh enough? Had I said the right words? Had I even made sense? These were always the thoughts that ran through my head when I had talks like this. At least I had tried. It would be up to Guzma if he actually listened at all.
When we finally got to the beach, the only one still outside was Cara who seemed visibly relieved when she saw us. “You could have said something,” she scolded as I dismounted Scoly.
I couldn't help but laugh softly. “Sorry, sorry. Spur of the moment thing.”
Her arms were folded across her chest. “Was it important?”
That caused me to pause for a moment before I nodded. “Yeah. I think it was pretty important.” She just looked at me for a moment before nodding and moving into the tent. Scoly was quick to follow. It was the first time I had been last into the tent, and what I was met with was quite a sight.
It looked like Dee had mostly taken my position, as she was laying on her back, with Brionne, Eevee, Goomy piled on top of her. Rio was laying against Dee’s side, looking like she was trying to keep awake, and failing, with Mikyu, Banette, and Keo on top of her. Keo and Eevee using Banette as a pillow was adorable. Diancie was sprawled out on the other side of Dee, just taking up as much room as she possibly could.
It caused a laugh to escape me as I came over. Dee gave me a hopeful look, as if I would save her from her current predicament, but instead I just took off my coat and laid down beside Diancie, resting against Dee and getting comfortable. Cara sat down beside me and laid her head on my shoulder while Scoly laid down and put her head on my lap. It was a bit weird not being at the bottom of the pile, but I wasn’t going to complain.
~
In the morning, everyone was more than ready to start training. As I watched them, I thought about what my immediate steps should be. I needed to go shopping now that Alma had eaten all my food. Oh and the massive Totem Pokemon was also here, though the rest of the Primarina weren’t. He had been watching the sun rise out of the ocean.
I walked up beside him. “Alola, Alma.”
He just smiled a bit. “How did things go with Guzma?”
I just shrugged. “We’ll see.”
“He is… stubborn. Something he got from Hala, to be sure.”
We both chuckled. “It’s going to get quite loud around here, as most of my Pokemon will be training.” They had already finished setting up, and were just looking over at me expectantly, as I had not given them their pokeblocks yet.
“Oh? That should be entertaining,” he said amusedly, laying down in the sand.
“Just thought I’d let you know.” I waved a bit before heading over to the group. “Okay, so I’m going shopping today. I want Mikyu to come with me, does anyone else want to go?” As I spoke I picked Mikyu up, putting her on my shoulder.
Banette came over, grabbing onto my coat.
I reached down and gently grasped her hand. “Alright. Anyone else?” I was a bit surprised that no one else, not even Cara, wanted to go. “Okay, you all know what your training is.” I started to give out pokeblocks with Dee’s help, and left a batch for the afternoon for them all just in case I didn’t return before then. Mikyu and Banette were the last ones to get one, but they still got theirs. Even without training, it was a good habit to keep their vitamin levels high.
Diancie activated her Gravity field as Banette, Mikyu, and I all made our way towards Hau’oli City. While I had been through it several times now, it was mostly just going to the Pokecenter so I hadn’t really paid too much attention to it. While it was big, it wasn’t on the scale of towns I had seen even back in Kalos. But it did have a mall.
I hadn’t been to a proper mall in such a long time. All the ones back in my old world were pretty much dead, and there weren’t many in this world. Did the Megamart count? It sure was the size of a mall, so maybe? I can’t remember what the definition of a mall is. Probably something to do with multiple shops.
Hau’oli City Shopping Mall was a lot bigger than the Megamart, so maybe I was misremembering how big malls were. It was also a place where people seemed to walk more openly with Pokemon. There were a lot of kids and teens walking with the three starters, Litten, Rowlet, and even a few Popplio’s being carried. Though there were also some mustached Alolan Rattata, and Pikipek. One kid even had a Pichu. And that was just outside the mall.
Once I got in, there were even more and I realized there was a Pokemon Daycare here in the mall. I hadn’t seen one of those around… They seemed pretty rare, and from what I read they were run by Breeders. I should probably talk to a Breeder at some point and try to learn some of their tricks when it comes to making pokeblocks. Although that could wait for later. Right now I have shopping to do.
My first stop was a crafts store, which was easy enough to find after looking at the mall's map. It was called Scizor’s Scissors which I felt was a pleasant Pokemon pun for such a business. There was even a Scizor behind a table cutting cloth. There was also an older looking woman with brown graying hair. “Alola. Anything I can help you with?”
“Alola,” I said with a smile, approaching the counter. I could spend time looking around, but the store didn’t look busy and clearly she wanted to help. “I need a good sewing kit, and this little one is going to look for cloth.” I reached up and rubbed Mikyu a bit.
“I…what is that?” the clerk asked, staring at the little costumed thing.
“It’s a Mimikyu. A ghost Pokemon that makes a costume to help fit in.”
Mikyu made a sort of crackling bow motion that caused the clerk to flinch. “H-hello. My name is- is Mikyu.”
“Her name is Mikyu,” I translated with a smile. “The crackling is from the sticks giving her costume shape.”
“I- I see.” She cleared her throat. “Well… it sounds like she needs some uhm… something higher quality than sticks…”
I nodded a bit. “I’m sure she would appreciate that.” I looked down at Banette, who was staring at the colorful cloth. “Do you want some things too, Banette?”
Her head twisted around to look up at me. It took a moment as if she wasn’t sure what I was talking about, but she nodded.
“Alright. Find some cloth you like, okay? I’m sure Mikyu would help you, right?” I glanced at Mikyu.
“Y-yes!” She hopped down from shoulder to the counter and then down to the floor. The two of them wandered off to look at more cloth.
I laughed softly as I watched them for a moment. “I hope that’s alright?” I looked back at the clerk. The Scizor had stopped in its task and was watching me and the Pokemon. It looked on the older side, the colors dulled but it still had a good shine that showed it was well taken care of.
She gave me a bit of a smile and nodded. “Yes, of course. We get a lot of people in here looking to dress up their Pokemon.”
That was a thought. Maybe that’s what Banette wanted? If she was one of those dress-up dolls before becoming a Pokemon she might have a want for outfits. “Thank you.”
“As for sewing kits, I assume that it would be for the uhm… Mimikyu was it?” I nodded to her question. “Right. Well,” She moved over to the side, pointing out where they were. “All our kits are over there, so she can peruse them to see if she finds any she likes.”
I nodded, and looked around for a moment before grabbing a small cart. It didn’t take long to find Mikyu and Banette who were comparing different cloths. From the way that Mikyu was holding them up towards the other Pokemon it was clear they were looking for colors that would match her. The two of them were probably quite familiar with each other having lived in the same place, and I was sure that Banette talked to Mikyu when no one else could hear. Or perhaps they had some sort of nonverbal communication?
“Put everything you want in here,” I said as I pushed the cart beside them. “And we’ll look at sewing kits after.”
Mikyu immediately looked pleased, and began to go around and look at different colored cloth and threads, occasionally shoving them into the cart.
I crouched down to be closer to Banette. “Do you have a favorite color?” I asked, smiling a bit.
She tilted her head to the side for a moment then started to look around. Eventually she pointed at a sort of pink colored cloth, though it was a bit darker. I shifted a bit to get a look at the label which read fuchsia. I grabbed the roll and put it into the cart. She looked a bit surprised, but smiled.
“What would you want made? A dress? Maybe a sweatshirt?” I crouched down again, although this time I picked her up and put her on the cart.
Again she tilted her head, seeming to think for a moment before she reached out towards me and grabbed at my coat.
“Oh? You want a coat like this?” She nodded. I chuckled a bit and nodded, reaching forward and rubbing her head. “I’m sure you and Mikyu could make a fantastic coat. I’m not very good at sewing. I can do a basic stitch, but that’s about it.”
We spent a bit more time shopping, Mikyu getting all sorts of things before we went over to the sewing kits. It took her quite a while of looking at all of them, and then looking at them again, before she finally decided on one. I suggested that she could get two if one didn’t have everything she needed and her eyes practically sparkled as she immediately started the process over.
In the end she managed to pick out two that she said would be more than good enough for all of her needs. We also looked at other craft supplies. I suggested wooden dowling rods could be a good thing to help prop up her costume, and we got some of those. Then we came across the cloth paint, and she went on another frenzied search.
It was adorable to watch how excited she was, even if we ended up taking two hours in the shop. And it cost me seven thousand pokedollars for everything she wanted. Some of the cloth was expensive, and one of those sewing kits was very expensive. But it was all fine, since Mikyu made it sound like she would never need more supplies.
After paying and storing everything into my bag, we wandered the mall for a bit. We found a few of those coin operated rides, one was of a Horsea and another was a Ponyta. Both of them immediately wanted to ride, so we spent quite a long time there. We did draw a crowd, and I was more than happy to explain what Pokemon they were, and things about them. A lot of people were put off just by mentioning they were ghost Pokemon, but others just seemed really interested.
I made sure to take lots of pictures, and a little video of them enjoying themselves. But after nearly an hour they got tired of the little machines, and we went on to shop. I had only a few days of food left thanks to Alma, so I would have to really buy a lot. Five hundred a month for each Pokemon meant that getting enough for everyone, including myself, was six thousand a month. So I bought three months of food.
Moving onto pokeblocks, I found that a lot of the ingredients I needed were more expensive here. The herbs and vitamins were particularly expensive. I had about a month's worth for every Pokemon and myself, so I would just try and leave before running out I suppose.
Finally done with shopping, I left the mall with Mikyu tucking herself into my hood and falling asleep. I had to pick up and carry Banette, as her pace had been getting slower and slower. They were both exhausted from the excursion, but seemed very happy. How all this got them more tired than training I had no idea. They were probably on the young side as far as ghosts were concerned, though how exactly that worked I had no idea.
I paused when I saw a restaurant. It looked like a high quality place, the type of place that required a reservation. Although it looked rather empty, and the hostess appeared to be chatting with one of the waiters. After thinking about it a moment I decided I’d try and see if they allowed walk-ins. “Alola, do you have any seats available?” I asked after approaching. Their hostess stand was actually outside.
Their conversation stopped and both of them looked me up and down. “I’m sorry, we are by reservation only.”
“Ah, that’s what I thought.” I nodded a bit. “Are there any open reservation spots that I may claim?”
Her face scrunched a bit. “No, I’m sorry. We require a minimum of twenty-four hours for a reservation.”
“I see, I see.” I continued to nod. “Do you know of any nearby high quality locales that don’t have such rules?”
“Any restaurant of this quality would have such rules,” she replied, lifting her chin a bit.
“Alright.” I turned and started to walk away. “I just figured you’d prefer having a paying customer over empty tables. Alola.”
A rather similar discussion happened at three more restaurants. I knew I looked a bit haggard, but all of these places weren’t particularly busy. What ever happened to don’t judge a book by its cover?
“Jason! Alola!”
I blinked and looked over, spotting Kukui and Burnet sitting at a table outside of a restaurant that just turned me away. “Ah, Professors. Alola.” I walked over, standing on the other side of the little fence that separated the outside seating from the street.
“What brings you into town? And without your little army,” he said with a laugh.
“Shopping. Alma ate all my food.” All three of us laughed.
“Yeah, he can put away quite a lot,” he said with a chuckle and nodding to himself.
“Have you eaten?” Burnet asked with a smile. “Why don’t you join us for lunch? We haven’t ordered yet.”
“Ah- No, I’ve not eaten. I was actually just looking for a restaurant to try for lunch. Though I’m not having much luck,” I admitted.
“All the more reason to join us,” Kukui said as he waved over to a waiter. “This place has some of the best food on Melemele.”
“It’s our favorite place to have lunch,” Burnet added with a nod.
The well dressed man came over quickly. “Yes, Professor? Is this person bothering you?”
Kukui furrowed his brow. “This is Jason, a Pokemon Expert.” The waiter immediately stiffened. “He’ll be joining us for lunch, I wanted you to ask for another chair and menu.”
To his credit the waiter recovered quickly. “Yes, of course. If Mr. Jason would please head over to the entrance. I will be right there.” With that he dashed off.
“What’s that about?” Kukui asked, glancing from the waiter and back to me.
“They just turned me away at the door not two minutes ago,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “I’ll be around in a moment.” I started to make my way back to the door.
Kukui snorted. “Maybe you need some better clothes?” he joked.
“Probably,” I called back with a laugh.
Rounding the corner the hostess spotted me immediately, frowning. It looked like she was about to open her mouth and say something when the same waiter rushed up to her and began to hurriedly whisper to her. Just like the waiter had done, she stiffened for a moment, but recovered quickly and her entire demeanor changed. “Alola, Mr. Jason. You’ll be joining Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet, yes?”
I just smiled and nodded. “Yes.”
“Please follow me,” the waiter said before turning and walking through the restaurant.
Immediately I realized that this place was far fancier than I had originally thought and felt like I was more than just a little underdressed. Honestly it was clear why they had been turning me away as this place looked like a ‘suit and tie’ place.
And yet outside I found Kukui and Burnet, simply wearing lab coats. Kukui didn’t even have a shirt on. Maybe I could get a lab coat and have that same sort of social invulnerability that Professors seemed to have. “Are there only fancy places around here?” I asked as I sat down, situating Banette in my lap.
“In this area, yeah. This close to the beach has all the fancy places,” Kukui explained. The waiter handed me a menu. The first thing I noticed was nothing had a price associated, which meant this was a really expensive place.
“Wasn’t like that twenty years ago,” Burnet added, “But times change.”
I nodded a bit, glancing over the menu. “So what do you recommend?” I asked after a few seconds, having no idea what most of the items on the menu even were. The plush Pokemon in my lap seemed to have taken an interest in the menu and took it from me. I wondered for a moment if she could read or was just interested in it because it was new. It wasn’t like it had any pictures on it.
“Oh everything is good here,” Burnet said with a bit of a smile at the little Pokemon in my lap, though there was still a sort of tense nervousness on her face from seeing the ghost.
Kukui rolled his eyes. “If you’re not sure what to order, the Chef’s Special is always good. It’s what we get, since it varies, but it’s usually something new and delicious that the head chef’s cooked up.”
I nodded a bit, though I wondered why, if they always got the same thing, had they not ordered yet? As if my question had been heard aloud, the waiter arrived with a bottle and two glasses. “And what will you three be having this afternoon?”
“Three Chef Specials,” Kukui responded, glancing at me to confirm that is what I wanted. I nodded.
“Excellent choice. I shall go and place your order.” He turned to me. “And what would you like to drink?”
I hesitated a moment, looking at the menu. “Just water. I’m not a day drinker,” I said with a soft laugh.
The other two also chuckled as the waiter hurried off. “It’s just a bit of wine,” Kukui said.
I nodded a bit, chuckling. “True, but I still don’t like drinking when the suns out.” I shuffled around in my bag for a moment to get a pokeblock for Mikyu and Banette. Banette happily exchanged the menu for the pokeblock, and leaned back against me to enjoy it. Mikyu still seemed a bit sleepy, but when I held up the little cube little tendrils of shadow came out of my hood to get it.
“Ah, your other ghost is here as well?” Burnet asked, glancing towards my hood.
“That’s the new species, right?” Kukui asked, suddenly rather excited. “I wanted to take a look at it, but it completely slipped my mind.”
I reached back to fish the sleepy Mimikyu out of my hood. She narrowed her eyes at me as I set her on the table, clearly wanting to be lazy and nap while she had the chance. “This is Mikyu, and she’s a Mimikyu.”
It seemed like she suddenly realized where she was and started to look around, recognizing Burnet and giving one of her crickle crackle of a bow to the two of them. “H-hello.”
“Oh, she’s cute,” Kukui said with a big smile on his face as he leaned down towards her to get a better look. “I’m Professor Kukui.”
“The Association has been pestering me ever since I submitted the discovery,” Burnet said with a sigh, watching as Kukui examined the costumed ghost in front of him. “They want scans and photos for their archives.”
“As long as it’s nothing under the costume. I’m not sure if a picture would have the same deadly effect, and honestly would rather not test it.” I was also watching Kukui, though I did it because I didn’t want him to die because of his curiosity. I wasn’t entirely sure if looking at a Mimikyu’s true form was deadly like it said it was in the game and anime, but I had a strong feeling that it was.
She shrugged. “Still, do you mind if we do that before you leave Alola?”
I nodded. “Sure. We can do that after lunch, if you have time? I plan to head to Poni Island tomorrow.” I paused. “Actually, I’d appreciate a ride over there, if you can.”
Kukui now had a pair of Mikyu’s shadow hands in his hands and was completely focused on them. “Sure,” Burnet said, sighing at her husband's antics.
“They feel a bit like high quality silk,” he suddenly said.
I had to think about it for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah. Cold silk is a good way to describe her hands' texture.”
“It’s pretty rare for a ghost Pokemon to use a move like this,” he continued, glancing at me and then at Mikyu. “She’s using the Shadow Claw move to give herself arms so that she can interact with the world around her. Most Pokemon can’t maintain it for long periods of time.”
That hadn’t really occurred to me. Thinking back and comparing it to how Banette used her Shadow Claw, they seemed to retract and disappear quite often, but with Mikyu it was as the Professor said. “Maybe due to the nature of her true self? I’m not sure what she is under the costume, nor am I keen on looking, but she seems to be made up of shadows or ghost energy. Much like the Gengar line?”
We continued to discuss the little Pokemon, and I did try to get her involved in the conversation, but she was a bit too nervous and didn’t really know how to explain anything. She probably didn’t know.
When I spotted waiters coming with food I put Mikyu back into my hood. As expected of really fancy places that are incredibly expensive, the plates didn’t have much on them. There was a scoop of some sort of white sauce pasta that had… some sort of meat that looked a bit like grilled chicken. There was a small salad, and a sandwich.
Curiously I examined the sandwich, which had a lot of cheese, lettuce, shredded meat, and a sauce that smelled tangy. “Something wrong?” Burnet asked, and I realized she had been watching my examination of the food.
“Ah. No, just wasn’t sure what to expect,” I said with a chuckle.
Kukui was already eating his sandwich, though it looked like Burnet was starting with her salad. “Not used to eating out?”
I shook my head, glancing at the silverware and thankful that there was only one fork. I started with the pasta, since it was probably the closest comparison I could make to the curry. It was a cheesy alfredo sauce with something that most definitely tasted like chicken. And it was very good. Easily leagues better than my curry. The salad was pretty good, with a sort of blue cheese dressing. The sandwich was good as well, though not as good as the pasta. It had a sort of barbeque sauce taste to it, though it wouldn’t be far off to call it sloppy joe sauce.
“Well, how is it?” Burnet suddenly asked with a clearly amused expression.
“Hm?” I looked up. I must have been making some kind of face. “Ah. Well, it’s not bad. The pasta is very good. Makes me think about making pasta instead of using rice for my curry.”
She nodded, clearly agreeing that that was the best part. “There’s quite a few pasta dishes on the menu, and they’re all good.”
“The Chef is apparently from Paldea,” Kukui added, having finished his plate.
“Paldea, huh?” That was interesting. I wondered how cuisine was spread around this world? As I considered this I gave a bit of my sandwich to Banette, curious to see if she would like it. From the expression she made, she did not. I saw as Mikyu snuck a little piece as well, though I couldn’t tell if she liked it. Hopefully she didn’t leave crumbs in my hood…
There was a small argument happening nearby that caught my attention. Two waiters were arguing with what looked like… well a dish boy. What was that French word the little blue rat had used? Plongeur? Wait, wasn't that also the word for submarine? Not important.
They looked like they were trying to not draw attention, keeping their voices low and not making many movements. But it was a habit to watch for that type of behavior because it can rapidly escalate and before you know it people start swinging.
When I tried to ignore it and reach for the last bit of my sandwich I found it gone. Apparently Mikyu did like it. They never complained about the taste of the food I made, but as I got better and more consistent I would need to start varying it up or they might get tired of the same thing every night.
“Pardon me,” a voice said from beside me, breaking me from my thoughts. It was the dish boy. He was very young, definitely before his journey. “You are a Pokemon Expert, right?” His tone was extremely polite.
I blinked, and then nodded. “Yes.” I pulled out my identification card to prove it. “My name’s Jason, but I prefer Jace.”
He nodded a bit as he looked at the card. The two waiters seemed to have gone back to whatever they were doing. “I- uhm… the Chef would like a moment of your time.”
My brow arched a bit but I nodded as I stood up, picking up Banette as I did and situating her into a comfortable position. “Alright. Professors, I will meet you at the research center, alright?”
The two of them nodded, pouring what had to be their third glass of wine. Each. “Go on,” Kukui said with a smile. “If we’re not here, we’ll see you there.”
“Alright.” I gave a nod before following the boy back in and through the restaurant. There were a lot more people in here now, and I felt even more out of place. Everyone was dressed up quite nicely. Definitely not a place that I’d ever be comfortable in.
The noise hit me the moment we entered the kitchen, the sound of things cooking, clattering of pans and plates, the occasional shouts. In the center of the room was an absolutely massive man, easily head and shoulders above me. It would have looked quite intimidating if not for the short little green Pokemon on his shoulder with two large olives for its hair; a Dolliv.
The dish boy went up to him and tried to say something, but the older man cut him off. “Oliver, what are you doin’ over here? There’s dishes to clean, boy.” Then his eyes caught me and he turned to me. “And who the hell is this?”
“Yes Chef, sorry Chef. Th-this is the Pokemon Expert,” the boy managed to say.
“And I told you there’s nothin’ wrong with Skeld. He’s just tired from overworkin’.” I tried to mentally work out what type of Pokemon that could be and, since he was from Paldea, figured it was probably a Skeledirge with a nickname like that.
“But… Nurse Joy said-”
“Dammit, boy. Don’t you think I know my own Pokemon?” He had quite the scowl on his face. “Now, get back to those dishes before I tell your mom you’ve been slackin’ off again.” The boy paled slightly and then quickly rushed back over to the dish pit. The Chef watched him for a moment before letting out a huff through his nose and turning his attention back to me. “Sorry about this.”
I just shrugged. “It’s fine. Mind if I have a look while I’m here? I’m always keen on meeting new Pokemon.” The Dolliv was staring at me, their little eyes absolutely focused.
He seemed to think about it for a few seconds before he shrugged. “Sure.” He moved a bit towards what looked like a few dozen different heating elements that were all currently off. “The boy loves that old man, and I’ve just been pushin’ him a bit too hard.” He walked to the side of the elements, and slid open a door.
There was a sort of outdoor area, and laying in the center on a pile of stones was a massive red and white crocodilian Pokemon. There was a little round bird on its nose made of fire that seemed to be napping. His eye opened and it glanced at the Chef before huffing out a spurt of flame and closing its eye again. He didn’t even look at me as I stepped out into the little courtyard.
“The Nurse said there’s nothin’ wrong with him. He’s just old and tired. Just like me.” He pat his chest, letting out a deep laugh.
“So, you were a trainer?” I asked, watching as the Skeledirge huffed out fire with every exhale.
“Long time ago. He and I went pretty far in the Paldea League, but never managed a win.” He leaned against the doorframe. “I was always a better cook than a Trainer… And now it’s just me, Skeld, Dolly, and the restaurant.” He paused, “And the wife and kid, of course,” he added with another laugh.
I turned to look at him and the Pokemon on his shoulder, who stood up straighter, as if acknowledging her importance. “A Dolliv, right?”
He blinked and then nodded. “Yeah. She’s the daughter of my Arboliva.” There was a far off look in his eye for a moment before he shook his head.
“If you’re going to talk, go somewhere else to do it,” came a low rumbly voice, and I turned towards the Skeledirge, who had an eye open and was glaring at me.
“Sorry if we’re too loud,” I said with a bit of a smile, watching his movements.
“I just don’t want to hear that damn fool's voice,” he said with a huff, letting out a large plume of fire as he did.
“Did you two have a fight?” I asked.
“No,” said the Chef.
“Yes,” said Skeld.
I laughed softly. “What did you fight about?”
“We didn’t have a fight,” the Chef protested, folding his arms across his chest.
“I want to go home.”
“Home?” The word seemed to catch in the air and even the kitchen went silent. That sounded like I struck a nerve.
The old Chef looked pissed, but before he could say anything, Skeld shifted and turned to look out at the water. “I know the old man likes it here, but I don’t. This restaurant was his dream, not mine.” He let out a heavy flame filled sigh. “I wanted to keep fightin’. I wanted to keep goin’. I never saw where my limits were, and now I never will. Then he starts up all this nonsense about me retirin’ and I just… what’s the point in even tryin’ anymore?”
There was a moment of silence after he finished speaking and settled back down. I turned my attention to the Chef, who was staring at his Pokemon. Eventually he spoke, “Why didn’t you ever say anythin’?”
There was another bit of silence before the rumbling voice gave an answer, “I didn’t want to ruin your dream.”
“To hell with my dream,” he said as he stepped over, kneeling on the ground next to the big croc. “You know you were always more important.”
“That’s why I never said anythin’. I knew that if I complained, you would have dropped it. And then what? No Anna. No Olive. And maybe no Dolly.”
“You think our future wouldn’t have been as good? Keld we could have done countless other things.” He placed a hand on the Pokemon’s back. “You’re my partner. You should have spoke up.”
“It didn’t bother me till now.” He huffed out a bit of fire. “I thought it was just my imagination, but… I’ve got to admit that… I’m too old. My fires a long way from burnin’ out, but it sure doesn’t burn as bright.”
The Chef sat down on the stones, rubbing the back of his Pokemon. “We’re both in that boat, friend…”
Silence fell again, and I just stared at the two of them. Why am I even here? They resolved this just fine. Just two old men that didn’t want to air their grievances and needed a little push, I suppose. Just a couple nudges. I did eventually think of the best way I could probably help, but I gave them a few moments before speaking up, “What sort of diet do you have him on?”
The Chef looked back, a bit puzzled. “He gets the high end carnivore pokechow, and a fire type pokeblock every week.”
I had to shift Banette a bit to one arm in order to pull out my phone and quickly searched up the recipe for that type of pokeblock. Thankfully she was pretty light. “Fire type pokeblock… fire type…pokeblock… hmm… Ah, here it is.” I took a moment to read over the ingredients. “Okay, I have two suggestions.”
They both blinked at me.
“One,” I held up a finger, “More charcoal in his diet. There’s a bit in the pokeblock, but a Pokemon of his size needs more than a few grams a week. Second,” I held up another finger, “Give him a ghost pokeblock as well. He’s a fire ghost type, and so he’s probably missing out on some nutrients that he needs. If you have the money, you might talk to a breeder and get a custom pokeblock recipe for him.” This was probably the weirdest part of my knowledge ability that I was becoming more aware of, being able to tell what a Pokemon’s nutritional needs were if I focused and thought about it. It didn’t tell me if there was something in particular a Pokemon was lacking, but it did give me an idea of the overall needs.
This was also the first time I actually really thought about the fact I was doing it. It had felt so natural before when I was making pokeblocks for my Pokemon that it hadn’t occurred to me that it was odd that I could do it. Was that part of my ability? Some sort of seamless integration so that I wouldn’t notice and it would be difficult to question if I didn’t focus on it?
The Chef suddenly stood up, which broke me from my train of thought. “How much charcoal does he need?”
That I had to think about for a moment, but thankfully my knowledge kicked in. “About a chip a day, roughly this size,” I made a vague size of half my palm. “Too much won’t hurt him, any less than a pound a day is fine, but it won’t be beneficial.”
“And that’ll… help, right?” He sounded a bit unsure.
“He’s still old,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. “But it should put a bit more pep in his burner.”
“Right.” He nodded and gave me a rather hard clap on the shoulder that probably would have caused my leg to buckle if I hadn’t been training in Gravity. The little Pokemon on his shoulder reached out and pat me on the head, telling me in her own way that I’d done a good job. Then it was suddenly as if he had a revelation. “Ah, have you eaten? Please, let me treat you to lunch.”
“Oh I just ate, actually. Your Alfredo was extremely good.”
His brow arched. “Oh? You actually know what that’s called?”
I blinked at him, trying to not look too visibly confused. “Yes?”
He seemed to think for a moment and then he laughed. “Right, you’re probably really well traveled, so of course you’d have heard of it. It’s a really old dish in Paldea.” He started to lead me back into the kitchen. “A woman a few hundred years ago invented it. Said it came from some place called Italy.” He laughed even more.
“This was over three hundred years ago, right?” I asked, trying to not sound too eager.
There was a thoughtful look on his face for a moment before he nodded. “Yeah. Sometime about then, I think. I dunno, I’ve never been big on history, but that sounds right.”
So someone who was dragged over by Arceus introduced Italian food to Paldea? I wonder how many other things from my old world are here only because of one of those transmigrators… “Well, it was extremely good. Any chance I could get the recipe for the noodles and sauce?”
His eyes narrowed. “You a cook?”
“I…uh.” For some reason this was the first time that the man in front of me actually felt intimidating. “I am. I make a lot of the meals my Pokemon eat.”
“Show me.”
Before I even realized what I was doing, I was preparing curry. Of course I used none of my ingredients, and didn’t use berries, but this was a fully stocked high end restaurant so it had more than enough of everything else I needed. The old man hovered over me the entire time, watching my every move closely. He was quite interested in the way that Banette and Mikyu helped me with prep work. He commented that it was like having extra arms.
At the end, I had a small pot of curry, and a plate already dished up. For a moment I felt like I was on one of those cooking shows, and was about to receive the harshest criticism of my life. He took a bite, then another. They were large bites, and it was a small plate so it wasn’t long before he finished it.
He gave a nod. “Well, you’d never survive in a real kitchen working at that speed, but it’s pretty good.”
Suddenly I had an odd sense of relief. “I think it’s pretty good, and my Pokemon really like it. But it’s nowhere near as good as that pasta.”
There was a pause before he suddenly moved over to a different area, scooping some of the recently mentioned pasta onto a plate and walking back. I saw the utterly incredulous look of the cook that had been about to use that pasta, but against the head Chef, what could he do?
Coming back to me, the Chef scooped the curry up and dumped it onto the pasta, barely mixing it before taking a bite. He took a moment. “Ah. So that’s why you want my pasta,” he said with an oddly knowing nod of appreciation.
“Rice is good, but I don’t know any tricks in preparing it.” I had all sorts of different types of rice in my last life, and some of them were clearly better. I made a mental note to try and learn some of those in the future. I knew there were tricks, like there was something with butter?
He nodded slowly, looking me over for a moment. “Alright. I’ll give you my recipe, as long as you don’t share it with anyone.” He stuck out his hand.
I smiled a bit and nodded, grasping his hand and firmly shaking it. “Deal.”
~
I was going to have to go shopping again. I would need a pasta maker, and ingredients to make the pasta. Not now, but eventually. Right now I was on my way to the research center. Or laboratory. I had heard it been called both, but I wasn’t exactly sure which it was. I guess it was a research center and had a laboratory in it? Burnet was standing outside as I got there.
She glanced at the Banette. “Are you just gonna… carry her everywhere?”
“She’s not a fast walker,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. I heard Banette make a soft huff noise and bonked her head against me softly, which only made me laugh more. “And I guess she doesn’t like being teased.”
Burnet rolled her eyes, though she had a smile on her face. “Come on. Kukui is preparing the examination room.”
She turned to enter the building and I followed after her. “Just remember, don’t look under her costume. I’d rather not watch anyone die today.”
“I know. Don’t worry, it’s just going to be you, Kukui, and I in the room. And I told him that if he tries, and it doesn’t kill him, I’ll kill him myself,” she said with a bit of a giggle to her tone.
I let out a bit of a snort. “Hear that, Mikyu?” I felt the Pokemon shift in my hood. “There’s nothing to worry about.” I could practically feel how nervous she was when Kukui was examining her, fully ready to prevent any mishap from happening.
But as far as people went, I trusted Kukui to not do anything stupid on purpose. On accident, however… Well, who can tell. “We’ll just have to keep an eye on him,” I muttered.
Burnet laughed and nodded as she pushed open a seemingly random door. Inside was what looked like a large medical operating theater. The type that had raised seating all around, which thankfully were empty.
Kukui was standing in the center beside a large table. There was an odd looking machine nearby with four display screens, as well as something that looked like a large adjustable light. It looked like something out of a cheap sci-fi movie. But then again, a lot of this world's technology could be considered science fiction in my old one. “Ah good, you’re here.”
I put Banette down on a nearby chair. “I am. So, how does this work?”
“We put her on the table, and this-” he pat the strange looking adjustable light- “Will take readings of her energy as well as take pictures.”
Moving to the table, I nodded a bit as I fished Mikyu out of my hood. “Alright. Just nothing under the costume.”
“Right right.” He started to shift the device as Burnet moved behind him to the machine.
When I tried to put her down on the table, she suddenly clung to me, looking up at me with pleading eyes. I rubbed the side of her face with a smile. “Is it alright if I’m here? She’s nervous.”
“Should be fine,” Burnet said. “Might skew a few things and ping some false readings, but we can filter those out by getting different angles.”
Kukui started to move the machine around, pausing it for a few seconds at several different places, keeping Mikyu as its focus the entire time. She eyed it suspiciously, as if it would attack her. “Very high ghost energy,” Burnet said with a nod. “And… Ah, here’s that odd stuff. Fairy energy. And- hm…”
“What is it?” Kukui paused to look back.
“There’s a noticeable spike of dark energy. Does she know dark moves?” Burnet asked as she turned to face us.
“She does,” I confirmed.
“That’s very common in the ghosts I’ve scanned,” Kukui said as he moved to look at the screen. He seemed to have more experience with using the machine. He turned a few things. “Ah, looks like I tuned it a bit too high...”
Burnet moved to his side, looking over his shoulder. “Right... This machine is such junk… I wish the Association had actually given us a tech that knew how to use it.”
I was extremely curious about the machine. “Maybe her main body is made up of dark energy?” Kukui questioned. “But that would make her a dark type, not a ghost type? This is very interesting.”
“The machine is just junk,” Burnet said with a frown. “It’s probably confusing ghost energy for dark energy because of how similar they are. See? Now it’s not showing any dark energy spikes.” She came over, and started to repeat the process, going through the same motions Kukui had.
“Yeah, no dark energy spikes at all,” he admitted with a sigh. “We’re going to have to run every test multiple times when we use this machine…”
So they had gotten equipment from the Association… That made sense, since that’s also how they got the map. But this also raised a bit of a problem. That map was probably out of date. I made a mental note to talk to Professor Sycamore to see if I can check his map, if he has one.
“Alright. That’s all we need.” Burnet pushed the device away and Mikyu seemed to sag slightly, clearly having been stressed out.
“Do you want to go into your pokeball, or in my hood?” I asked with a bit of a smile.
“Hood…” she said softly. I picked her up and put her on my shoulder so that she could move her way back in.
“The Association is going to be mad we didn’t take pictures under her costume,” Kukui said with a sigh, adjusting the pictures to try and remove me from them as much as he could. “We’ll use your explanation for the pokedex entry, if that’s alright?”
I chuckled a bit and nodded. “Yeah, of course. When more are found, it unfortunately won’t be long before it’s confirmed.”
They both sighed at the same time, nodding in sync.
That was a rather amusing sight. “So who’s taking me to Poni tomorrow?”
Chapter 11
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Lucario - Daughter of Cara
Scoly - Scolipede - Adopted daughter of Cara
Brionne - Brionne - Rescued from aquarium
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Taken from Pokecenter
Goomy - Goomy - Slug vibes
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart
Banette - Banette - Collected from the Supermart
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - Taken from Pokecenter
Chapter Text
“Can’t we go some other way than boat?” I grumbled as I held on and tried not to be sick.
“It’s fastest,” Kukui said with a bit of a laugh.
There was really something about the way he drove a boat that aggravated my motion sickness. Eevee seemed to be enjoying herself, though. She was half out of my hood, standing on my shoulder and looked like she was enjoying the wind. She let out little cheers every time we hit a wave and nearly left the water. I wish I was having any fun, but at least I could see the island in the distance. Goomy was on my other shoulder, clinging to me and also not having fun. She didn’t want to go back in her pokeball for some reason, not that I could really blame her. Though I think she was regretting that choice.
Right now it looked like we were heading towards a cluster of docks and floating buildings. That had to be Seafolk Village. It was startlingly larger and more complex than both the games and in the anime. There were probably a few dozen boat buildings scattered around.
I was glad I had packed up and taken everything and everyone with me, since it would probably be a few days to complete all three Trials, or however many I could get done on the island, and have a proper look around the village. I also had to hope that I could somehow get Poisonium, but that seemed unlikely. Was Plumeria even around? Wait why was I even trying to hope for a random encounter. “Professor? Where would I get a Poisonium crystal?”
He glanced back at me for a second before turning his attention back forward. “Thinking about adding more to your first bit of Trial runs?” he joked. “Well, you can either ask for a Trial from a Kahuna, or a Trial Captain. Or try and find a poison type Totem. I’m surprised you're only asking now. You seem to know about all the Trials and Totems.”
“I know a lot of them,” I admitted, thankful that we were finally pulling into the dock. I would have much preferred Burnet had given me a lift over, as she seemed to know how to drive a lot better. “But what are the Totems and where are they?”
“Well…” He looked around as if trying to make sure no one was watching. “There’s a Totem Toxapex on Akala Island, though it’s hard to recommend his Trials. He likes to say participants fail even when they clearly succeed. Then there’s-” Again he hesitated to look around. “There’s a Totem Arbok on Melemele.” His expression turned a bit sour as he tied the boat to the dock. “And a Totem Muk at the waste-disposal site on Ula’ula.”
I was getting off the boat as I listened to him talk. “Quite a few options.” I was thankful to be on the dock, as was Goomy.
However Eevee complained, “I want to ride on the boat more…”
“There are some others, but they aren’t official Trial Totems. Then again, you managed with Alma,” he said with a laugh.
“Nothing here on Poni Island?” I asked, looking up at the massive mesa that made up most of the island.
“Well-”
“Don’t be giving out secrets, Kukui.” Hapu was suddenly there. Due to her height, I hadn’t even seen her approach.
“I’m not,” he lied. “He wants to try and get Poisonium, so we were discussing Trials he could take to do them.”
She folded her arms, frowning up at him. “Uh-huh.” She walked over to him, with her eyes narrowed. Suddenly she kicked the rope that he had just tied. Which immediately came loose.
Kukui tried to grab it, but it slipped off the dock into the water. He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. “I guess you’re still mad?”
“Get off my island,” she said with a huff before turning to me. Her mood seemed to instantly shift and she smiled. “Ready for your first Trial?”
“Uh…” I hesitated as I looked at Kukui, who had retreated to his boat.
“Alola,” he called out and then proceeded to spend the next minute getting the boat turned around and away from the dock.
We just watched him fumble about with it without saying anything.
Eventually he got it going and began to sail off into the distance. “I don’t trust that man around a boat…” Hapu said after a moment.
“Is he that bad?” I asked, turning to look back at her. She was short, and I knew that it was probably because she was young. She was supposed to be the youngest Kahuna, but I had no idea what her age was.
“Just the other day, we had to go to Exeggutor Island, and without warning he goes ‘watch this’ and like… tries to spin around?” She sighed, shaking her head. “Tossed me off the boat,” she grumbled.
I had to put my hand over my mouth in order to not laugh. “I see. So not the most reliable of captains.”
“Yes.” She nodded a bit. “But enough about that. You’re here for Trails.” She clapped her hands together, sounding quite excited. “I know you beat Hala, but I also know that he forfeit before getting serious. You won’t get that sort of treatment around here.”
“Alright, that sounds good,” I said with a soft laugh.
“You’ll have to do at least two Trials on this island before you can take the Grand Trial against me.” She stood up a bit straighter, almost puffing out her chest. “One against my Island Captain Mara, and another from a Totem Pokemon.”
Immediately my mind started to run through things. Mara? Not Mina? Wait that made sense, Mina would be too young at this time, right? But who was Mara? “Alright. Where can I find Mara?”
“That’s where we’re going now.” She pointed at the large houseboat in the shape of a big blue fish. Whiscash always had such a happy look on its face, though it also looked incapable of having a thought in that big head, and whoever had stylized the boat had captured it perfectly.
Out on the dock in front of the house was a rather young looking girl, blonde hair with paint in it, and a white paint covered shirt. She was painting over a large canvas that was spread across the ground.
Standing near the door of the boat was a large pink dog with tusks. It was a Granbull that was attentively watching the girl. When it spotted the two of us it eyed me for a second, but seemed to recognize Hapu and it pushed the door open. “We have visitors!” they called back into the building.
This also got the attention of the little girl and she looked up. She just watched the two of us as we approached. Before we got much closer a woman appeared in the doorway. She looked extremely like the little girl who I assumed was Mina, so this must be Mara? “Alola Kahuna?” she asked as she stepped out. She was dressed in a rather large blue and frilly dress.
“Alola Mara. We have a challenger.”
Mara frowned a bit, looking at me. “I wasn’t aware there was a Trial Journey going on.”
Hapu nodded. “The Tapu have made an exception.”
That caused the woman to stand up a bit straighter and then nod. “Alright. Mina,” she turned to the little girl. “Could you head inside for a little bit?”
Mina just nodded, having already started to clean up the moment the adults started talking.
“This Trial will be a battle for a Fairium Z crystal. Three on three,” Mara said as she turned back to me, stepping out onto the boardwalk. It was then that I noticed that it had markings of a battle arena. I hadn’t noticed it earlier because Mina’s things were hiding the iconic center symbol. “That fine?”
I nodded. “Sounds good to me,” I said as I walked a bit forward to my position in the arena.
There was a bit of a noise at the edge of the dock that drew everyone’s attention, and I watched as a man crawled out of the water and onto the dock. He pulled off a similar rebreather mask as to the one I had used. “This is an official battle between Captain Mara, and the Pokemon Expert Jason,” he announced, pointing out both sides. “Three versus three. No swaps. Any Pokemon that is returned will be considered knocked out. Captain, are you ready?”
Was he just waiting there? Under the dock? His clothes are soaked… Mara was positioned opposite me in the arena. “I’m ready.” Her Granbull moved into the arena in front of her.
“Challenger, are you ready?” He pointed at me with a flat hand.
“Ready, I guess,” I said as I tossed out a pokeball, releasing Rio. She had been really upset that she hadn’t gotten to fight Hala, so I promised her that she would be first out. I’d also told her how she should fight ahead of time.
“Begin!” the referee called.
The boardwalk buckled under both Pokemon as they lunged at each other. Rio’s palm burst into the silver blue of steel energy and collided with Granbull's forehead as it used Headbutt. Rio clearly won the exchange as the pink dog flew back, rolling across the ground, while Rio merely slid back a few steps.
It took a moment before the Granbull managed to get on its feet, though it looked a bit wobbly. Fairy was weak to steel, so I had told her to focus on using steel energy until I said otherwise. That was also what she was best at, so this was going to be a rather unfair battle.
“Fire up!” Mara called, clearly able to see how this was going to go if she didn’t try and focus on type advantage. The pink dogs fists and tusks immediately burst into flames. They were using Fire Fang and Fire Punch at the same time? That was interesting. I wondered if it was because they were of the same energy that they both could be used at the same time, or if any move could be done like that. Or perhaps this was the same type of thing I had done with Scoly, where we just combined moves. But this was using multiple moves at once rather than combining them.
Rio launched herself forward in response, stopping just a bit in front of her opponent before dashing to the side. She wasn’t able to use Extreme Speed yet, but she was capable of Agility. She blurred as three different figures of herself formed around the Granbull. Rather than try to figure out which one it was, the dog jumped up and breathed downward, spewing out flame that engulfed the area around.
For a moment Rio vanished into the flame before appearing above the Granbull. She had a leg out, her foot already covered in steel energy as she was twisting in the air. The dog managed to use its Flamethrower to turn itself in the air and blast Rio before her leg managed to connect. However when it did it snapped their jaw shut, forcing it to swallow the flame and sent it straight into the flame weakened boardwalk, which buckled from the impact and let them punch through and into the water below.
Mara ran to the edge of the dock to look under as Rio landed, taking a leap backwards to make space away from the hole. She was in the same sparring stance that she would face off against her mother that reminded me of some sort of martial arts pose. As I took a good look at her I could see that there were quite a few spots of burnt fur, and there were soft wisps of smoke rising off her.
“Don’t you dare return me,” she growled softly. I had only just started to think about that and glanced at her pokeball, but apparently her aura sense was good enough that she could see me do it. Or she was just guessing. “I’m nowhere near done.” Maybe I was a bit too quick to return them when they got hurt? I’d have to talk to them about that.
“Granbull has been returned!” the referee called out, which drew my attention back to the battle. Mara was returning back to her position. I could practically see her trying to work out a strategy. If she read Rio right, she would know that her strength was her strength, but her speed wasn’t the best and she wasn’t good at range. “Captain, please send out your next Pokemon.”
The Pokemon that appeared had a pale yellow pokemon with a large black jaw extending from the back of its head. A Mawile would mitigate the steel advantage. I watched as a wave of steel energy washed over the smaller Pokemon as it immediately used some sort of defensive move; Iron Defense if I had to guess.
Rio’s hands were already shining with silver blue energy and she was about to charge. “Shift to ground,” I said. With a flex of her hands the energy disappeared and was replaced with a long staff shaped object made of a dull brown energy. Cara hadn’t quite been able to use Bone Rush yet, but Rio had gotten a fairly good grasp of it.
“Fire up!” Mara called again and I was reminded that Mawile also had several fire moves it could learn. So she mitigates the steel weakness while keeping the fire advantage. The large maw behind the yellow Pokemon was suddenly filled with flame. That was a good technique to practice. After observing the way that Granbull had used its fire energy, Mara had taught her Pokemon to channel their energy into its physical element so that they can shift it to use in several ways.
The Pokemon on my side lowered herself to the ground, one hand placed on the ground as she held the staff behind her back. “This again?” she muttered.
“Probably. If it bites you, you’ll be toast,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. She didn’t respond and instead rushed forward. The Mawile twisted and sent out a gout of flame from its large mouth. Rio dashed to the side, boosting her speed with Agility to properly avoid the move. This whole boardwalk was going to need some serious repairs after this fight.
Mawile tracked Rio as she ran, the Flamethrower following after her and trying to get ahead of her. Rio had almost done a ninety degree shift around the other Pokemon, closing the distance as she did, but just as she got within range, the flame stopped and Mawile lunged, jaws open.
I could see Rio’s eyes widen as the massive jaws threatened to completely engulf her, but she thrust the staff forward, striking the Mawile in the back of the throat. It staggered back, coughing. She then twisted the staff and slammed it on top of the jaw with enough force that it buckled the boards of the dock.
However she made the mistake of relaxing, apparently thinking that that was enough, just in time for the Mawile to twist using its mouth like appendage for balance and delivered a Mega Kick to her side. This was her inexperience in real battles showing. I would have to explain the idea of tunnel vision to her and everyone else.
She did recover quickly, landing on her feet after being launched away, and she hadn’t lost concentration on her staff. The Mawile hopped back onto their feet as well and pulled their jaws free from the boards with surprising ease. They looked unharmed, where as Rio was covered in little burnt patches and holding her side.
“You good?” I called, turning her Pokeball in my hand. She just nodded. I nodded as well. “Don’t focus so much on the jaws.” As if on cue, said jaws burst back into flames. “The whole Pokemon is the threat.”
“Mawile, keep distance,” Mara called out with her own response. Immediately the Pokemon leapt backwards and let loose with Flamethrower again. Rio was quick to get out of the way, but this time their opponent kept moving in an attempt to maintain the gap.
That was a bit annoying to deal with, but I wondered how long it could actually keep that up for. A Pokemon only had so much energy, though I had noticed that every Pokemon had different amounts. Even if the type didn’t match, like how Rio could use Bone Rush easily, but Cara could not. Cara just didn’t have enough ground type energy to use the move yet.
As expected, Mawile’s Flamethrower did eventually run out, though it was hard to tell if it was because they were out of fire energy, or if they were trying to conserve it since their current technique wasn’t working and Rio was just letting them burn through their energy stores.
Then I spotted Mara suddenly start making strange movements, with Mawile sort of copying her while still keeping distance. I immediately recognized it. “Rio,” I said, which caused her ear to twitch. “You remember when you were asking questions about Z-Moves? Well, you’re about to see one.”
Mara hit the final pose and there was a sudden burst of energy from around her Z-Ring. The burst rushed into Mawile, who suddenly had a visible aura like they’d gone Super Saiyan, but pink. The air around them was filled with glitter and sparkling little motes of lights as they rushed forward.
Rio braced herself for the impact, but the other Pokemon suddenly stopped in front of her, and swayed side to side for a moment. I could see the confusion on her face, and then there was a burst of brilliant pink energy as Mawile shot forward and slammed into Rio. She had tried to block it with her bone staff, but it shattered like it wasn’t even there and the little yellow Pokemon collided with her stomach.
There was a second when nothing happened, and then Rio was gone. I looked over to the side just in time to see her skip across the water three times before finally coming to a stop. There were a few moments of silence before the referee spoke up. “Challenger. If your Pokemon is still capable of battling, they need to return to the battlefield.”
I nodded as I walked over to the edge of the dock, looking at Rio who was floating dozens of meters away, her eyes wide as she stared upwards. I cupped my hands around my mouth before shouting, “Rio? You good?”
It took a moment before she raised a hand, giving me a thumbs up before twisting around and beginning to paddle back.
“I can’t believe she’s okay after all that,” Goomy said softly.
“Her staff had probably absorbed some of the blow,” I mumbled to her. “But she has to be hurting something fierce.” She definitely couldn’t take another serious hit, but if she wanted to keep fighting, I was going to let her. With a nod I walked back over to my position. “She’s swimming back,” I said to Mara and the referee with a bit of a smile.
Mara looked flabbergasted that she hadn’t been knocked out by that. “You sure she’s okay?” she panted softly, obviously tired from the use of the Twinkle Tackle.
I shrugged. “Won’t know for sure till she comes back. And she wants to keep fighting.”
She just nodded before turning her attention back to her Pokemon, which also looked tired; not just from the move, but also the battle. While they seemed to shrug off the previous blows, their effect was starting to show now.
Seconds ticked by and eventually we could hear the soft splashing of a dog paddle getting closer and closer. Then it suddenly stopped. I saw the way that Mawile tensed, completely focused on the direction they’d sent their opponent flying.
Then in a burst of water, Rio appeared. Not from the edge of the dock, but from the hole she had made with Granbull. Which was behind Mawile. As the Pokemon tried to turn around, Rio used the edge of the hole for leverage and sprang forth with a move I recognized immediately: Reversal. Her paw met Mawile’s side, who was still trying to turn around to defend themself, and was promptly embedded into the boards of the dock.
Rio took a few shaky steps back, breathing hard, a bit of froth at the edges of her mouth from over exerting herself. But she also had a rather dopey smile on her face, which was only getting wider and wider the longer it took for Mawile to move.
“Mawile is unable to battle!” The referee suddenly called. He pointed his hand flat towards Mara. “Captain, please send out your next Pokemon.”
She hesitated, slowly lifting the Pokeball and retrieving Mawile. I could see the look on her face. “Don’t you dare…” I mumbled.
But she shook her head. “There’s no point in continuing. That was my strongest Pokemon, and you still have two unused. I forfeit.”
“Damn it,” I cursed, letting out a sigh.
“Captain Mara has forfeit,” the referee announced, now pointing his hand flat towards me. “The winner is Pokemon Expert Jason!”
Rio staggered back several steps and I moved forward to put a hand on her back and help support her. Her fur was still wet with salt water, and I could feel how hard and fast her heart was pounding through her back. “That was fun,” she managed to say, still breathing hard and sporting a cheshire grin.
Dee suddenly appeared in a flash of red light. “Goodness you’re a mess,” she mumbled as she started to use Healing Pulse.
I glanced at Dee before smiling a bit down at Rio and rubbed between her ears. “You did a very good job,” I said with a bit of a smile. “Excellent maneuvering and use of the terrain.”
“I let my guard down,” she said with a bit of a frown. “Twice.”
“Lessons learned the hard way,” I said with a nod, reaching into my bag and pulling out a small washcloth and wiping the froth from her mouth.
Mara came over, examining the state that Rio was in. “Are they alright?” She glanced at Dee, who was busy checking Rio over to make sure she didn’t have any severe injuries.
“Lots of minor burns, and the worst thing are some rib fractures. But those can be healed up at the Pokecenter,” Dee explained.
“She’s fine,” I said with a chuckle. “Mostly. She said it was fun.” I gave the woman a smile.
“Fun, huh?” She seemed to think about this for a moment and then nodded, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small pink crystal with a symbol that looked like a little winged person. “She trounced my poor Granbull… But he’s used to taking it easy on Trial goers.” She held out her hand which contained the Fairium crystal. “Is she your strongest Pokemon?”
I had to actually think about that for a moment. “I think so? At least physically. She’s not the fastest, or the toughest, or the best at controlling her energy, but when it comes to raw strength she’s higher than everyone else.”
Rio batted at my hand that was trying to clean her face up a bit, clearly annoyed that I just casually listed the areas she struggles with. “Mean,” she protested.
A snort escaped me as I rubbed her face a bit harder. “You gotta know your weaknesses so you can watch out for them.”
She just huffed at me in response, wobbling a bit away to escape my reach and hide behind Dee.
I took this opportunity to reach out and take the crystal Mara was offering. “Thanks for not holding back.” I wanted to chastise the woman for taking the easy way out of the fight and not seeing it to the end. Maybe that was just me thinking about it like the games again, where you couldn’t back out of fights with other trainers.
But here, when it’s a reality, it makes sense to not throw a Pokemon into a fight that you think you’ve lost. It may make come from behind victories less likely, but it also has less risk of your Pokemon getting seriously injured. Even though the best way for Pokemon to get stronger was to fight.
Still. It was hard to not be annoyed.
“Good luck on the rest of your Trials.” She had a bit of a smile on her face before she turned away and looked at the hole. “Now I’ve got to have someone repair the boardwalk… again…” she mumbled as she pulled out her phone.
“Come on, Rio,” I said as I held up her Pokeball.
She hesitated, glancing back to Mara, and then at me. “I can do that, right?”
I blinked, furrowing my brows for a moment. “You mean Z-Moves?” She nodded. I smiled and nodded as well. “With practice, you can.”
That seemed to be enough to satisfy her question and her tail started to wag. “Good.” She disappeared into red light as she returned to her pokeball. Dee quickly followed as she returned to her own pokeball.
When I turned around, I had expected to find Hapu. However she hadn’t stayed for the battle, so I just made my way straight to the Pokecenter. Rio definitely needed it. However as I was walking my phone rang. I let my Z-Ring grab hold of the Fairium before pulling out my phone and looking at the screen; it showed that Kukui was calling. “Alola, Professor. What’s up?”
He had a rather conflicted look on his face. “Alola,” he said but hesitated before continuing, “Is it alright if I give Guzma your number?”
I blinked. “Guzma?” From the way that the Professor was occasionally glancing away, Guzma was probably not far away waiting for an answer.
“Yeah. He was waiting here at the research center when I got back, and wanted your number.” That explained the sort of strained look on the Professor's face. The two of them had a rather complicated history.
“That’s fine,” I said with a nod. “You can give him my number.”
“Alright. He seemed pretty adamant that I just give him your number, but I wanted to check first,” he said with a chuckle.
I chuckled as well. “Well, I appreciate it. Seems like some people are really loose with passing out other peoples numbers without asking.”
“Right.” He cleared his throat. “Anyways, good luck on your Trials.”
We both said Alola before he hung up. This was a very good sign that I had at least managed to get through to Guzma in some way. Now it would depend on how long it would take for him to actually call, and what he would want to say.
The Pokecenter being a boat was quite interesting. Though it felt a bit precarious, as it seemed like it was more just placed on top of two large boats and floating there with an almost drawbridge leading to the door. I was a bit hesitant in stepping across it, but I convinced myself that it had to be safe. “Alola, Nurse Joy,” I said after entering and made my way to the counter.
Joy looked very tired, but gave me a smile in return. “Alola. How can I help you?”
“This one just had a rather rough battle,” I said as I put down Rio’s pokeball onto the tray. “And I would also like these other Pokemon looked at.” Eevee and Goomy were still out, so I decided to skip turning them over for the moment, but I put everyone else's pokeballs down.
Dee jumped out again, giving Nurse Joy a slight bow before picking up the tray. “Oh! You’re Jason,” Nurse Joy said with a smile at Dee. It was rather humorous that I was getting recognized more for Dee than I was for anything else. Then it looked like she suddenly had an idea. “I… uhm, I hope you don’t mind me asking but is it alright if I borrow your Audino for a bit? We’re rather behind at the moment…”
I blinked as I looked over at Dee, who looked up at me with a rather eager expression. I smiled a bit and nodded. “Sure. What happened?”
She sighed. “Some kids- Team Skull I think they called themselves? Anyways they got in over their heads and caused a ruckus. We were still dealing with the cleanup of the problem at Exeggutor Island… At least Professor Kukui and Kahuna Hapu managed to solve that quickly, but then these Team Skull kids riled up a flock of Murkrow. So now we have a bunch of injured wild Pokemon to deal with.”
I just nodded slowly. “I don’t mind letting her help out for a bit,” I reached over and rubbed the top of Dee’s head.
Nurse Joy bowed a bit to me. “Thank you.” With that the two of them disappeared through the door behind the counter.
I had barely taken two steps towards the seating area when another door opened slightly and two people looked out, a teenage boy with blue hair and a girl with pink hair. They were dressed in mostly black with white details, and white caps. They had black bandanas around their faces and wore large silver skull pendants around their neck.
“She gone?” the pink haired girl said, peeking around the boy.
The two of them looked around a moment before the boy nodded. “Yeah, looks like it.” They quickly moved out of the room before both freezing mid step when they saw me. There was a moment of silence before the boy said, “Yo, the heck you lookin’ at?” While making exaggerated movements with his arms.
It was a bit hard to keep the smile on my face while trying not to laugh. “You should probably go back to your room until Nurse Joy discharges you,” I said.
“What? We ain’t gotta listen to you,” the girl snapped back, also with exaggerated movements.
“Yeah, we ain’t listenin’,” the boy added and folded his arms in front of him.
I let out a soft snort. “I’m just saying. There’s probably a reason she had you waiting.”
The girl suddenly slapped the boy over the shoulder. “Show this punk foreigner what happens when they get in Team Skull’s way.”
He hesitated before looking back. “Why I gotta be the one teachin’ the lessons?”
She leaned in a bit and whispered harshly. “Cus my ‘mons are still knocked out.”
“I ain’t much better,” he whispered back. Though in the empty room their voices were carrying quite farther than I think either of them realized.
“You still got Tatta,” she argued, giving him a nudge. “All his ‘mons are probably with the nurse, and all he got is that slug.”
He paused for a moment before looking over at me, and then seemed to gain some confidence as he pulled out a pokeball. “I’ll show you what happens when you get in Team Skull's way.” He released his Pokemon, the dark gray and mustachioed Alolan Rattatta appearing.
I looked at the little thing, who looked like it had already been in a fight. But there was a surprisingly fierce and determined look on its face. It clearly had a strong fighting spirit. Although I wasn’t sure if I should back down, considering Goomy’s lack of combat experience… But this was the perfect opportunity.
She jolted a bit in my hands as I lifted her off my shoulder and placed her on the floor. Looking back at me, she made a soft, “Huh?” noise.
“You’re gonna battle,” I said as I gestured towards the Rattata called Tatta, and took a step back.
She continued to stare at me. “Huh?”
I gave her a thumbs up. “You got this.”
She let out a third “Huh?” noise.
“Tatta! Tackle!” the boy called out, pointing at Goomy.
The Rattata let out a rather loud scream as it charged. Goomy just turned at the noise to see the approaching rat and closed her eyes. Tatta hit her, causing her to squish from the impact. Then to everyone’s surprise, including mine, the little rat was launched away several meters.
Tatta laid on the floor on its back for a moment, its legs up in the air, seemingly trying to work out what just happened. Even from where I was I could see a bit of goop on its face and shoulder. Goomy hadn’t moved, her eyes still clenched like she was still waiting for the hit.
“Uh… what?” the boy muttered.
The two teenagers exchanged looks. The girl again slapped on his shoulder. “Do- do something.”
“Tatta! Uh… tackle!” he ordered after a moment.
To its credit, the Rattata rolled over, recovering from the surprise and brushing it off as some kind of fluke. Again it screamed as it charged. Goomy flinched from the noise, slightly opening an eye to see what was happening just in time to get struck again. She squished and then again Tatta was launched away.
I was trying to figure out what was going on. It was like she was made of rubber. She also looked confused at what was going on and looked back at me. The only thing that I could think of was that her defense was so high that the Rattata couldn’t get through it. Or maybe the pokedex entry about punches and kicks just sliding off was accurate? Maybe some combination of the two? This was going to require testing.
The moment I opened my mouth to order her was the moment that I realized I didn’t know what moves she knew. That was a rather large blunder on my part that I’d have to correct eventually. “Well?” I said with a bit of a smile, deciding to leave it up to Goomy. “Attack back.”
She just stared at me a moment before turning around to the Rattata that was trying to get the slime off of its face. The two Team Skull members were just staring in shock at the little slug, who started to move towards the rat.
“Tatta,” the boy said, an odd tone of worry in his voice. “Use Bite.” The little thing looked back at the boy, and then at Goomy, clearly hesitant to put something like that in its mouth. But it was obedient and a sort of dark light coated its teeth.
However, it hesitated again as it watched Goomy swell up, nearly doubling in size. I don’t know who was more surprised at what happened next, me or everyone else. When she opened her mouth I caught a glimpse of the edge of a dark blue energy ball that suddenly burst into a gout of colorful gold and purple flame that shot across the room and collided with Tatta.
I guess that dragon typing wasn’t just for show, but who would have thought she could use Dragon Breath? It wasn’t very large, and she didn’t seem to be able to maintain it for very long, but it was still a surprise that she could use the move. However even though it wasn’t that strong, it was still more than enough to knock down the already battered Rattata.
“Tatta!” the boy shouted as he ran forward to pick up the small thing. “Aw man… I didn’t realize you were that roughed up…”
I moved forward as well, picking up Goomy. “Good job,” I said softly as I squeezed her in my arms a bit.
“What in Arceus is going on here?!” Nurse Joy shouted as the door flew open. All of us jumped, looking over. She looked around for a moment and at all of us. “No fighting inside the Pokecenter,” she said with an exasperated tone.
“Sorry Nurse Joy,” I said with a bit of a nervous laugh.
“Sorry Nurse Joy,” the two teens echoed, bowing their heads a bit.
She huffed a bit, looking at the Rattata in the boy's arms. “Give them to me,” she demanded. The teen obeyed, walking over and returning Tatta to their ball before handing it over. “And that goes for the rest of your Pokemon as well. I was about to get started on them, and what do I find? Them all gone.” She glanced at the girl, who quickly moved forward and joined the boy in handing over all their pokeballs.
“Sorry Nurse Joy,” they said again.
I put Goomy back on my shoulder, who seemed rather shocked that she had actually won a fight. “And you!” Joy suddenly pointed at me and I started a bit, standing up straighter. Her eyes narrowed a bit, but there was a slight smile on her face. “Keep an eye on them.” With that she turned and disappeared back through the door with all the teens Pokemon.
Both of them shoved their hands in their pockets in near perfect synchronization. That was clearly something they’d learned from watching Guzma. “Man. We almost got out,” the boy grumbled.
“And would have if not for you,” the girl added, glaring at me.
I just shrugged as I walked over to the waiting area and slumped onto a couch against the wall. “What’s the big deal anyways? Just sit and wait for your Pokemon.”
“She’s gonna tell the Kahuna,” the girl said as the two of them walked over.
“Well you two did cause problems.” I looked at the two of them for a moment. “Sit down.” There was a bit of hesitation as they looked at each other, but the boy shrugged and they both sat down across from me. They both sat slumped in the seat, their arms folded. It was actually pretty funny to watch them pout.
I pulled Goomy down into my lap and checked on Eevee, who was asleep. Seems that she had fallen asleep at some point and missed all the fun. I started to rub and squish Goomy, who let out a few little noises at the attention. She looked exhausted, apparently having put everything she had into that Dragon Breath attack.
Suddenly my phone rang. I pulled it out, noting that whoever was calling wasn’t in my contacts. I answered with an, “Alola.”
On the other side of the screen was the very familiar face of Guzma, who was frowning. He took a deep breath and sighed. “Alola.”
“What can I do for you, Guzma?” I noticed how the other two immediately tensed, their eyes locking on to me.
“I just… About what you said yesterday,” he started, clearly struggling to figure out what to say.
“Which part?” I said with a bit of a smile. “The part where I think you’re a good trainer?”
He paused. “No… The other thing.”
I glanced up at the two teens. “Ah, the other thing. About you being a good leader.”
If looks could kill, I’m sure I would at least be wounded. “No. The other thing.”
“Ohh that. Yeah. Tradition is just peer pressure from the dead,” I said with a bit of a nod.
Now he looked absolutely pissed and I wondered if he was going to hang up on me. “Not that.”
I was just smiling, trying not to laugh at the situation. “Oh, Guzma, before we continue.” I turned the phone to show the other two who immediately flinched and tensed up when they saw Guzma. “Ran into some people from your team.”
“Tupp? Rapp?” I could practically hear the scowl on his face. “Where’s Zipp? What are you doing in a Pokecenter with Jace?”
“I well-” the boy known as Tupp started but his voice faded.
“We were… uh…” the girl that was Rapp also struggled.
“We had a battle,” I said before turning the phone back around. Both of them seemed to relax as I didn’t immediately throw them under the bus.
He looked at me for a moment and then sighed. “I see. So you were giving them a… talk as well?” He put a lot of emphasis on the word talk.
“I was about to before you called,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. “As for where the other one is…” I looked over my phone at the two of them.
“He’s…” Tupp hesitated.
“He’s guarding the boat…” Rapp said.
I nodded a bit. “Guarding the boat. He’s probably wondering where you are.”
“I sent him a text earlier,” Tupp said, fumbling a bit to get his phone out of his pocket. He was quickly sending another text, probably to tell Zipp where they were and what was going on.
Again I nodded and returned my focus back to Guzma. “So?”
“So…” he hesitated for a moment and then sighed. “Look. I don’t think you’re right. But I-” he paused, “I think a lot of what you said made a lot of sense. I don’t like it, but I’m used to dealing with crap I don’t like. And today when I ran into Kukui, and he mentioned his league idea again I remembered some of what you said.”
There was a conflicted look on his face, but I was going to remain silent until he finished and said what he wanted to say.
“They said it would take a few years before they finally got it going. And I just…” He hesitated again as he seemed to think about what he was going to say next, “Are you gonna be in it?”
“Maybe,” I paused for a moment and then smirked a bit. “Do you want me to participate?”
He didn’t say anything for a few seconds before he tilted his head up a bit. “I wanna beat you when it really matters.”
I out a soft snort and nodded. “Then I look forward to it.”
He nodded. “Right. You better be here for it.”
His gaze suddenly went somewhere in the distance and it looked like he was about to hang up, but I wanted to say one more thing, “Wait.” He stopped, looking back at his phone. “If you really wanna prove me wrong, about what I said… You better not lose.”
He let out a snort before hanging up.
A bit of a laugh escaped me as I put away my phone, now turning my attention back to the other two sitting across from me. “Now then… Back to you two.”
They both stiffened.
“I’m sure you’re expecting some kind of lecture, about safety, and staying out of trouble, and all that nonsense.” I waved my hand a bit as I leaned back in my seat. “But I know I don’t have to. I’m sure you’ve both been talked down to a lot today already.”
I could see the way they both relaxed a bit, Rapp even let out a sigh and a nod. “Yeah…”
“What I want you to do is learn,” I said with a bit of a smile. “Where did you go wrong? What was the mistake you made that led to it?”
“Yeah, if-”
Immediately I put up a hand to stop Tupp from talking. “I’m not asking whose fault it is, or telling you to blame each other or something else, or asking about what if scenarios. You made a mistake. You don’t have to say it out loud, but you know that you did. You know that somewhere you personally made a mistake. I want you to think about that, and know that everyone makes mistakes. That’s part of life. I make a lot of mistakes. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not a bad thing.”
Both of them sort of just stared at the floor as I talked. “I wasn’t watching where I was going,” Tupp said after a moment. “I knew the area was bad. I even mouthed off about it.”
Rapp shifted a bit before she spoke, “I panicked. When Tupp tripped and started sliding, I just locked up when I could have helped him. If I had, he wouldn’t have fallen on that nest.”
“Nah, there was nothin’ you coulda done, Rapp,” he said as he pat her arm slightly.
She just stared at him, and I could tell that she was frowning at him under her mask. “Tupp, I have three Zubat. They could have easily grabbed you.”
He stiffened slightly, his eyes widening at the sudden realization. It seemed he’d forgotten. “Ah. Right. Yeah… That woulda helped.”
There was a moment of silence before the two of them started to laugh. “You really don’t think, huh?” Rapp said as she shoved Tupp slightly.
“I was falling off a cliff, that makes it hard to think about stuff,” he retorted, clearly thinking about giving her a shove in return but thinking better of it before he did so.
She let out a sort of snort like laugh. “It was hardly a cliff, more like a steep slope.”
“Well maybe you should take a trip down it,” he snarked back. “See how much of a cliff it feels like to you.”
“Alright, alright,” I interjected before they started to fight. “So you weren’t paying attention when you knew you should have been. A simple mistake to make that can lead to some pretty severe consequences.”
He nodded. “Yeah… Won’t make that mistake again.”
“Oh you probably will,” I said with a chuckle. “That’s one of those mistakes that’s really easy to do without realizing.”
There was a puzzled look on his face. “Then what should I do?”
“You just keep an eye out for it.” I waved a hand vaguely. “Try your best to remember this lesson, and not get overconfident. You should still have confidence, because as you said you knew the danger but went through it anyway. The most important thing when you do that is to be prepared for things to go bad. Expect the best, prepare for the worst.”
He nodded slowly, doing his best to take in my explanation. “Right…”
Rapp folded her arms in front of her. “I don’t know how talking about my mistake is going to help.”
I shrugged a bit. “That’s fine. You got scared and locked up, that’s hardly anything that you could have helped.”
She opened her mouth, clearly wanting to argue about how she wasn’t scared, but when she thought about the situation it was hard to deny that she had been.
“There’s the concept of fight or flight when you enter a dangerous or scary situation.” I held up two fingers. “But what a lot of people don’t acknowledge is there’s a third category.” I raised a third finger. “Freeze.”
“Fight, or flight, or freeze…” she muttered a bit, leaning back in her seat. “But how do I prevent it?”
Again I shrugged. “It’s different for everyone. Unfortunately it’s just something you have to figure out on your own. But the best way is to have someone around you. The more the better.”
“So we should have brought Zipp,” Tupp said with a sigh.
“That would have helped. But…” I gestured at them and then around. “How many Pokemon do you have?”
There was a moment of silence before they both seemed to realize it. Tupp began speaking, “We could have-”
“-Had our Pokemon out,” Rapp finished, and both of them slapped their forehead at the same time.
I nodded. “Exactly. Your Pokemon are there for you, just like you need to be there for them.” I gently pat Goomy a few times, who had fallen asleep in my lap. “They’re your partners, and your friends. If you’re going into a situation you know is dangerous, why would you do it alone when you could have friends by your side? Bravery? Bravado? What you should really worry about is how your actions will affect the people that care about you.”
Tupp leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “We’re Team Skull, there ain’t anyone that cares about us.”
“What about Guzma?” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Or Rapp?” I gestured towards her. “Or Zipp? Or your Pokemon? You don’t think that they would care if you got hurt?”
There was a moment of silence as the two of them looked at each other before looking away. “Okay, fair. I would care if Rapp or Zipp got hurt,” he said with a sigh.
“Yeah, and I don’t wanna see Tupp get hurt…”
I leaned forward a bit. “All of you in Team Skull care about each other. Guzma gathered you all up after the incident because he wanted you all to be able to support each other. You can do things alone…but why would you when you could do it together and make everything easier?”
They were both quiet, sitting with their arms folded as they mulled over my words. After a few moments the door opened and Nurse Joy walked out, followed by Dee who was carrying a tray. “Well at least it looks like you all stayed out of trouble,” she said with a bit of a smile.
I stood up, picking up Goomy as I did and placing her on my shoulder, amused that she easily stuck there. I returned Joy’s smile. “We’ve just been talking. Though I did end up getting a bit more lecture-y than I planned to.” I walked past the two teens and gave them each a pat on the shoulder. “I’d say stay out of trouble, but that’s no fun.”
Nurse Joy gave me a disapproving look as I started to tuck my pokeballs back into my coat. “You shouldn’t encourage them.”
“Oh come on, they’re just kids. Making messes is how they learn.” I glanced back at them with a smirk. “You just gotta make sure they help clean up so the lesson really sticks.”
Suddenly she had a smile on her face again. “Oh? You know, that makes a lot of sense.” The two teens gave me a look of betrayal as Nurse Joy approached them. “Come on you two.”
“Alola!” I called out with a laugh as I quickly made my escape from the Pokecenter, Dee quickly waddling after me to keep up. The two of us stood on the dock and I reached over and rubbed the top of her head. “How was it?”
Dee took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she pressed a bit into my hand. “It was… nice. But I think I like helping everyone with their training more.”
I laughed softly and nodded. “Alright. Well, let’s get going. There’s a lot of work to do for that next crystal.” We started to walk off through the city, walking towards the actual island. The town was extremely interesting, since it was made up entirely of boats. Most of them were shaped like Pokemon.
Stepping off the dock and into the area known as the Poni Wilds I had to pause. I didn’t spend much time exploring Poni Island when I played the games, and I don’t remember a lot about it. What I did remember was that this is where you got a Key Stone from Dexio. And if I looked to my right I could see… yeah, the ruins of Ancient Poni Path.
That was the way to Vast Poni Canyon. Which was honestly a silly name. Why didn’t they just call it Poni Canyon? Was that a translation thing? That was a thought, but it didn’t really matter, since I was looking at the real thing. And it was an absolutely huge rock formation that took up most of the island. I could even see the tip of The Altar of the- … would it be Moone or Sunne? I think it was Sunne in the anime, so that was probably what it was. But then there had been that short series of things, and that had been Moone. So maybe it was both?
Maybe I’ll take a look after doing the dragon Trial. It was a place that I very much wanted to see, along with countless others. Although there were just too many places that I wanted to see to even list them. Some of them extravagant like the Altar, some of them were things that some people would think mundane. Like Hapu’s radish farm.
Did Hapu even have a radish farm like in the anime? That was a thing about her story, that her parents left but she had refused to go and stayed on the farm. She also hadn’t been a Kahuna when Ash showed up, but she was now. That was an interesting change. I wondered how she had earned the approval of the Tapu. I should ask her about that after completing her Trial.
Of course that would have to wait, as right now I wanted to take a look at those ruins. As I walked I opened up my coat a bit. “Everyone can come out,” I said with a bit of a smile. There were few people around.
Everyone was keen to get out, and suddenly there were nearly a dozen Pokemon in front of me. “Freedom!” Rio declared, stretching her arms up to the sky. Diancie and Banette mimicked her pose, though she didn’t say anything.
“It hasn’t been that long,” I scoffed. “You were just in the Pokecenter.”
“Yeah, but I couldn’t do it earlier because of the battle, and the Pokecenter doesn’t count,” she retorted smugly. “That boat ride was long.”
“That fight was awesome!” Scoly exclaimed. Brionne, Mikyu, and Banette all were in the process of getting up on her back, all of them working together to make it go faster. They all looked ready to go.
“Yeah! That was awesome!” Brionne shouted, doing some odd mock fighting moves with her flippers. “You were like, woosh and bam.”
I moved Goomy to join them, asking Dee, “Could you check her over?”
Cara nodded as she moved to Rio’s side. “Indeed. It was a good fight.” She put a hand on Rio’s shoulder, a smile on her face. “You’ve improved a lot.”
Rio had that big cheshire grin on her face again. “That Z-Move thing was intense. I think I actually blacked out for a second when it sent me flying.”
“That was Twinkle Tackle,” I said with a nod, stepping over to join in the conversation. “It’s the fairy type Z-Move.”
“Which ones do you have?” Rio asked excitedly.
“Well, now I have Fairium, so I can do that move as well.” I held up my arm to show the Z-Ring. “This is the Primarium, which is a Pokemon species specific crystal that Brionne will be able to use when she evolves.”
“I’ve got a special one?” Brionne said excitedly, bouncing around on top of Scoly’s back.
“That’s cool. Are there other special ones like that?” Scoly asked as she leaned over to look more at the Z-Ring.
“There’s a bunch of them, like one for Eevee and Mimikyu’s,” I explained, chuckling a bit.
Mikyu crawled on top of Scoly’s head to get a better look at the bracelet. “One…for me?” she said softly, her head tilting from side to side. I reached over to rub the side of her costume, smiling and nodding.
“What’s mine do?” Eevee asked from my shoulder.
“Yours is Extreme Evoboost. It boosts all of your abilities, making you stronger, faster, tougher, and all that.”
“Whoa…” she said softly. “That sounds cool.”
“I plan to ask Tapu Koko for a crystal for you when I’ve finished his Trial.” I pointed to the other crystals. “On top of those two that I have, I’ve also got Normalium, which uses normal energy to do Breakneck Blitz. And the Fightinium that I got from Hala will let us use fighting energy for All-Out Pummeling.”
“We can do that one?” Rio was practically vibrating with excitement.
I chuckled a bit and nodded. “With some practice. Did you see how Mara and Mawille did some odd movements before they could use the move?”
Her brow furrowed a bit as she thought about it a moment before shaking her head. “No… I didn’t.”
Again I chuckled. “Well, it requires a certain amount of synchronization and combining the will or wish of the Trainer and Pokemon to unleash powerful moves. I don’t think we’ll have any problem, but I’m sure there are going to be a few problems when we first start.”
“Mmm… I see…” She had quite a thoughtful expression.
“So it requires both Trainer and Pokemon?” Cara said, wearing a bit of a frown. “So we can’t use it on our own.”
“Maybe?” I had to think about it. Testing to see if a Pokemon could use it with another Pokemon would be an interesting experiment. The same would go for the other things, like Mega Evolutions. Was a Trainer really required? Could I give the Z-Ring to Cara and have her use it? I also wanted to see if I could sync up with both Rio and Cara to have them both perform All-Out Pummeling together at the same time. “We’ll have to test stuff out when we do another long term training session.”
“Why can’t we train now?” Rio said with a huff.
“We’ve got Trials to do,” Cara said, chastising her a bit. “You can’t just train forever.”
“Why not?” she argued back. “It’s fun, and it makes us all stronger.”
“Yes,” I interjected with a smile. “But what’s the point of all that strength if you don’t use it?”
She opened her mouth to retort before closing it and folding her arms across her chest with a huff, unable to think of a rebuttal.
I snorted softly before giving her a bit of a nudge. “You’re already plenty strong. You practically solo’d that Trial Captain.”
“But I could be stronger,” she responded immediately. “That way-” she stopped, frowning. She glanced at Cara before she turned away. “Whatever. Let’s just do these Trial things so we can go back to training.”
Cara took a step forward to follow after her, but I put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s alright. She’s just being impatient.” As I had watched her, it was fairly apparent that Rio wanted strength in order to protect the ones she cared about. It was why she kept slipping back into tanking when she was supposed to be deflecting. It was easier for her to take the hit and focus on protecting.
Since it was about lunch time now, I gave everyone their pokeblocks before we started to actually walk through the Poni Wilds. I could see a few Pokemon around, mostly Rattata and Yungoos, though it was clear that most of them were avoiding the designated path towards the ruins. It was actually a fairly well maintained dirt road. I assumed that the lack of Pokemon was due to the incident that Team Skull had caused. Occasionally there was a Raticate or Gumshoos leading a small little group of young ones, but considering my group they all just took a look and immediately moved away.
Everyone had started to excitedly talk about where they were and what was going on. I was walking beside Scoly, with Keo in front of me. She was probably the most animated, as this was the third island that she had now visited and was talking about the differences she had noticed between them all. Eevee had also woken up and was now sitting partially out of my hood to join in the conversation, which turned into a discussion of different climates and what they preferred.
Scoly started to complain about sand, and everyone seemed to agree that it made everything difficult. Rio just said it was good for training because it made stuff harder, which some agreed, but the general consensus was that they didn’t like it. The only one who disagreed was Diancie, who said it was just like little rocks. Diancie was constantly drifting and twirling around the group, just happy to be out in the sunshine. She really sparkled in a beautiful way in the light and cast light onto the ground and surrounding area.
As she was doing so I caught a glimpse of Dee and Cara, who were discussing something on the other side of Scoly, purposefully out of my earshot. That was a bit curious as I wondered what they were talking about. Cara seemed to be trying to demonstrate something, but I couldn’t get a good look because Scoly was in the way.
The moment we entered the ruins I suddenly had to stop walking when I saw a rather large Pokemon appear not far away. It was a huge suit of bipedal armor colored teal. The reason that I had stopped was that it sort of appeared from behind a wall, holding what looked to be a large radish. That was Hapu’s Golurk. I wondered if she would use it in her Grand Trial against me. At least this confirmed that Hapu did indeed have a radish farm. Or at least someone did. I spotted the house, as well as a rather elderly lady sitting on a porch and watching the Golurk work out in the field.
Along the wall was a large group of purple birds that looked to be holding feathered fans. That was the Sensu style of Oricorio. I was a bit surprised that this was the first time I’d seen one of those birds since being on the islands. Each island was supposed to have its own type of Oricorio, and back in the game I had actually had one on my team. It was fun to use nectar to change its typing and appearance.
The birds were currently chattering about recent events. I heard the word Murkrow a lot, as well as them saying, “Those Skull kids.” It seemed like even the Pokemon were a bit bothered by what they had done.
“Afternoon,” I said with a nod to them as we passed.
They all turned to stare at me, most of them giving their own little greetings. And then immediately went into a flurry of discussions about who I was. One of them actually brought up that I was a foreigner doing the Trials. When some of the others tried to rebuff them, they insisted it was true as they had watched my battle with the Trial Captain.
Cara was eying them as if assessing if they were a threat, while Rio immediately jumped into the conversation, claiming that it was true and that she was the one who had battled the Captain. Scoly and her ride along gang also went over to corroborate the story, and tell about how she and Brionne fought Hala. Rio even started demonstrating some of the moves she had used, although in a rather slow and exaggerated manner.
From the way they were talking, I immediately knew that they were going to be doing so for quite a while. Behind them I could still see the Golurk, who occasionally glanced over at our group, but was mostly focused on his task of gathering radishes. “Alola,” a voice called and I looked over to see the old woman waving at me.
I smiled and waved back. “Alola!” She made a gesture for me to come over. I gave Cara a few pats on the head to get her attention and let her know what I was doing before heading over. “Sorry if we’re disturbing you,” I said once I got closer.
She waved her hand. “No, no. Nothing of the sort. I was just curious as to why someone would be wandering about this area looking like they were ready for war,” she said with a giggle. Now that I was closer and getting a better look at her, she was probably twice my age judging by her appearance and wrinkles on her face, but she had that sort of comforting expression.
“Well, I’m participating in the Trials.”
She nodded at that. “I see, I see. Then you’ll be battling my granddaughter eventually.”
I nodded in return. “Yes. I’m looking forward to it, and hoping that she doesn’t hold back like Hala did.”
She just giggled softly, nodding. “He’s too used to battling children, so he tends to hold back once he's satisfied.”
“Well my Pokemon sure wasn’t. Rio, my Lucario over there showing off,” I pointed her out, “Was really frustrated because she was next and didn’t get a chance to fight. So she pushed herself really hard in the fight against Captain Mara and ignored a lot of her training. She has a habit of doing that that I’m trying to break her of.”
The old woman nodded along as I spoke. “Sounds like a rather rambunctious one.”
“They all kind of are,” I said with a chuckle. Several of them were looking over towards me now. “Ah, it looks like they’re done talking with the Oricorio. Alola.” I gave a bit of a wave as I walked off back towards my Pokemon.
“Alola,” she said with a laugh.
When I got back, they were all looking at me like it was my fault we were delayed. “Ready to go? We’ve got a lot of mountain hiking to do."
Which I honestly wish was an exaggeration. Making our way through the Ancient Poni Path didn’t take long at all, since the moment we got past Hapu’s radish farm there were literally two buildings before we got to the entrance of Vast Poni canyon. The game and anime both really undersold this place, as it was huge.
I was a bit cautious when standing in front of it, looking up at the massive stones. It would take a long time to explore it and find the tablet. There should be a large stone tablet that marks this as a Trail and explains it. If I remember correctly this was supposedly the first Trial to exist, and it was not not very easy. You constantly get jumped by Jangmo-o and Hakamo-o, until you reach the pedestal with the Dragonium, guarded by a Totem Kommo-o.
None of which I could currently see. I did see a lot of Murkrow, and I was fairly certain the little glint of metal I saw up on a cliff side was a Skarmory. Cara was standing beside me, with Dee on the other side. Scoly and Rio were on my right, also looking at the large canyon that we were about to enter. “Those are some big mountains…” Rio mumbled.
There was a general murmuring of agreement. I looked around a moment, seeing that there were a few places that people had set up camp in the past, probably Trial goers. That sounded like a good idea, and I decided to go with that decision. “We’ll set up camp, call this day early, and then set off in the morning.” I started to head towards one of the old campsites that was set up in the remnants of an old building.
The rest of the day was spent with the Pokemon lightly sparring with each other, while I showed Cara and Rio the movements for All-Out Pummeling. Neither of them really got it and I knew I was going to have to try and figure out a way to explain it. I should probably ask someone, but it was honestly kind of fun trying to figure it out on my own. Diancie had joined the three of us and got it almost immediately, clearly enjoying dancing with us more than actually trying to do anything.
Eventually the other two got most of the movements down just before we settled down for dinner. But they were still struggling. After I served everyone food and sat down, they were still discussing it. All of the Pokemon had joined in on the discussion, since they would all eventually be able to use Z-Moves of some sort, they all wanted to figure it out.
“It’s simple,” I said with a soft laugh. “At least, in concept. We just have to combine our wishes, and unleash our full power.” My comment was met with a lot of frowns, but I just laughed more. “We’ll figure it out. Afterall, you said doing those movements caused my aura to shift, right Cara?”
She nodded. “Yes… it did strange things.”
“Even now, when I was demonstrating it, my aura was shifting, right?” Again she nodded. “Then just try to copy that. If there’s anyone here who can visualize and apply the movement of the aura, it’s you.”
I watched as her face scrunched up a bit in embarrassment and she quickly turned her attention back to her food. With a bit more practice, I was sure we could get it. But it would have to wait for when we figured it out in the future.
Chapter 12
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Brionne - Brionne - Doing sealy things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Living that hood life
Goomy - Goomy - Full of dragon slug vibes
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart
Banette - Banette - Collected from the Supermart
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - Taken from Pokecenter
Chapter Text
The evening was passing quite comfortably, though I can’t quite say it was quiet. There were quite a few Murkrow that decided to hang around and beg for food. They were rather nice about it, so I let them have at our leftovers and gave them pokebeans. You’d think that I saved their lives with how much they crowded around, giving thanks and rubbing their beaks against me. Clearly they were used to humans and weren’t very cautious of them.
I was a bit surprised they weren’t greedy and didn’t beg for more once they got a pokebean, but they are fairly large, almost the size of my hand, and according to the Pokemon who were eating them, tasty and filling. Once we were all in the tent, before going to bed, I gave everyone in my group a pokebean to see how they liked it. They all agreed they were delicious, but most of them couldn’t finish their beans due to having already eaten.
They were just the basic beans, but the Professor had given me so many of them that I honestly didn’t mind wasting them. I did get woken up a few times in the night as certain large Pokemon got up and started munching on the leftover beans. The most frequent culprit was Diancie, although it might have just been that she didn’t quite get what subtlety was and so when she went to the pile, she just crunched and monched them till she was satisfied.
Even Cara was guilty of getting up to grab some bits of unfinished bean. It was good to know that they really liked them and they would make good treats. For those moments that I was awake, I wondered if the Poke Pelago was actually a thing. It should be, right? They would have to be fairly close to Alola… If I remember they were small islands to the North East of Alola? Something to ask one of the Professors about.
When morning came and we all started to get up, I gave everyone pokeblocks before we made our way out. The sight that found us outside nearly caused me to double over in laughter. There were dozens of Murkrow all settled around, some of them were dozing while others were softly talking to each other. Immediately when they saw me they all got excited, waking up those that were sleeping.
I was a bit surprised that none of them begged, but they for sure all wore pleading looks. As I helped break down camp, I occasionally tossed beans out to waiting Murkrow, who were ecstatic to be fed. There were a lot of happy little voices all around filled with thanks and praise. “Don’t expect more,” I said when the last of them had finally gotten a pokebean. Among the crowd of birds I even spotted two light purple Murkrow. However there was also a pink Pokemon that caught my attention more than the others as they munched on a bean. It had been a while since I’d seen my little feline follower, but it was good to know they were alright, I guess.
Several of the Murkrow had landed on me at this point, or were around my feet and bumping me with their beaks to show their thanks. That was the most obvious way they could do so, since they didn’t know I could understand them. It was interesting, and I couldn’t help but pet some of them. Their feathers were pretty soft, and some of them clearly liked the attention. The ones that didn’t moved out of my reach.
They were also crowding around the Pokemon in my group. Diancie had the most on and around her, as she was a bit more off the ground than normal, and spinning and floating in the air with them. Scoly was absolutely covered in them as they discussed things with the other Pokemon that were already on her back. It was really amusing how chatty they all were. That abruptly changed when the word Trial was mentioned. Suddenly all of the birds went quiet for a moment, before mumbling to each other about the Trial.
“Yeah, we’re here to take the Trial,” I confirmed, which caused all of them to turn their attention to me. They all stared silently for a moment, which honestly was a bit unnerving to have dozens of birds stare at you. Then they all started to talk amongst themselves in whispers.
Eventually one of them spoke up, “We’ll take you to the Trial site for more beans.” This seemed to have a general murmur of agreement through the crow crowd.
I thought about it a moment before smiling and nodding. “Alright. That would save us a lot of hiking and cave exploring.” Cara looked concerned but I just reached over and rubbed her back. I would have pat her on the head, or on the shoulder, but there were currently birds perched there. “Don’t worry, it’ll be-” My words caught as rather abruptly I was gripped and lifted off my feet.
It only took two Murkrow to lift me, each one holding onto a bicep. The entire flock lifted off with us, a lot of them holding onto Scoly since she was the largest in my group. “Ah!” I heard her let out a little noise of surprise, but it was hard to hear anything over the cacophony of wing beats and bird chatter.
There was a moment that I couldn’t see anything but birds, until finally they spread out and I saw it all. Poni island. I felt my heart beat faster as we crested over the mesa that made up the island. But this wasn’t from fear, this was excitement. I was flying. I was in the sky. It looked beautiful.
We didn’t go that much higher as the Murkrow spent a moment just circling in the air, before they suddenly rushed into the canyon. I could hear the mixture of shouts and yells from everyone, the loudest shouts of excitement came from Keo and Rio. I could see Cara trying to remain calm, gipping onto the legs of some of the crows. On Scoly’s back, I could see that Mikyu had grabbed hold of Brionne, Banette, and Goomy to help keep them all secure. Diancie had several on her, who were helping her to fly faster since the Gravity she used on herself to move wasn’t very fast.
“Yeah!” Eevee shouted, coming partially out of my hood to stand on my shoulder as we soared through the canyon. “This is awesome!”
I had to agree that this was an exhilarating feeling and made me want to get a flying Pokemon to add to my family. Maybe I could just take this flock of Murkrow? That would get extremely expensive. And I definitely did not have enough pokeballs for them all.
Someone I wasn’t expecting to be enjoying themselves was the Espurr, who had also been grabbed by a Murkrow and dragged along. But it seemed the cat was enjoying it somewhat.
Unfortunately the flight wasn't as long as I had hoped. All too soon I saw the markers that designated a Trial area, and we rapidly descended. I was gently placed on the ground with a big smile on my face. “That was fun,” I said with a chuckle as I started to give out more beans.
The Murkrow all let out happy noises and cheers as they accepted their rewards. I looked around to check that everyone was here. For a moment I didn’t see Diancie, but then I looked up and noticed that she was still in the sky playing with the Murkrow.
It took a few minutes, but eventually all of the birds had a bean and began to disperse. I caught a glimpse of the little pink Espurr being carried away, carrying an arm full of beans. They were on quite an interesting journey of their own it seemed.
Eventually I handed out the last pokebean. “Thank you,” I said as I rubbed the bird's beak with my knuckles, which they seemed to enjoy. This wasn’t quite the scenario I had planned for when I wanted the pokebeans, but I knew that they would come in handy, and I knew that they would continue to do so.
“You bribed the Murkrow?” a voice suddenly spoke out from nearby. Looking over I saw a rather well dressed man, his suit a dark gray with blue accents and a black shirt. He had a head of shoulder length dark blue hair and a well trimmed goatee.
“You can think of it that way. It’s not like getting through the canyon is part of the Trial, is it?” I asked with a bit of amusement in my tone.
He laughed a bit as well, shaking his head. “Can’t say I’ve ever seen someone try that. Usually the Murkrow are a nuisance.”
I let out a snort. “They’re smart, and social. Treat them kindly, share your food, and they’ll want to help you.” They were crows, afterall.
There was a rather thoughtful expression on his face, but eventually he gave a soft laugh and nodded. “Right. Well, you are the expert.”
It sounded like he didn’t quite believe what I was saying, but not like it really mattered. “Right, well if you’ll excuse me, I have a Trial to do.”
“Not so fast,” he said with another little laugh. “You think I’m out here just for fun? You’re gonna battle me first.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what you do for fun.” I looked back at my Pokemon, wondering who I should send out. “Let’s go with four,” I said and suddenly Scoly, Rio, Cara, and Keo moved forward. Brionne came as well, riding on top of Scoly, clearly also wanting to battle. The other three that normally rode on Scoly had hopped off her back quite fast. “Rio you just fought, and I want you fresh for the Trial.” She looked disappointed but nodded and moved back to the rest of the group. Dee pat her on the back in a comforting way. “Four on four,” I said with a smile as I turned around.
His brow furrowed, apparently confused at something, probably that I knew how many Pokemon he had, but he had four pokeballs displayed on his belt. “Alright. No swaps.” He pulled out his phone, putting it in his chest pocket after fiddling with it a bit.
It took a moment for me to realize that he had set up his phone to record the battle. This was mentioned for battles in the wilds, and was the purpose of the battle app. I pulled out my phone to do the same, putting it in a pocket on my bag so that it was recording forward. It was interesting that the bag had a specific pocket for this, but it made sense. “Agreed. Keo, you’re up first.”
The little ice fox sprang forward, jumping into the area between me and the other. Unlike with Goomy, I had gotten Keo to show me what moves she knew so I was more confident with sending her out. In response, the other person released their Pokemon, a tall pink pokemon, wearing a sort of shell-like crown on the top of their head: Slowking. That was an annoyingly hard counter to Keo, especially if it knew fire moves. “Ready?” he asked.
I took a deep breath, a bit of a smile on my face. “Ready.”
As soon as the word left my mouth, Keo rolled to the side just as a ray of pink energy struck the ground she’d been standing on. At the same time, snow began to fall all throughout the bit of canyon we stood in. It was about to get cold.
“Icy wind,” I ordered. I hadn’t done any combat training with Keo, so I would have to be a bit more specific in my orders to her. Keo was much faster than the Slowking, so it didn’t even have a chance to try and defend itself before the wind washed over it and decreased its speed even further.
However the large pink Pokemon seemed completely unbothered by being struck by the attack over and over again, and its eyes began to glow a bright pink. When nothing immediately happened, I assumed they had either used Future Sight or Amnesia. It raised its hand up and I saw a glimmer of white energy in its hand and I saw the shimmer of a shield as it used Protect.
Future Sight would be rather annoying, but the other move that it just used was even more annoying. Was it just going to tank every hit and whittle her down with little attacks? Or wait for a moment to attack? “Keo, break the shield with Ice Beam.”
The cold wind that was flowing from her mouth suddenly focused and became an intense beam that blasted into the shield made by Slowking. It iced over before shattering. “Confusion!” the other man shouted.
“Confuse Ray!” I called out at the same time. The two beams swirled around each other and struck nearly at the same time. The Slowking staggered a bit, its eyes twisting and swirling around as it was trying to gain its bearings.
Keo wasn’t much better, though she wasn’t confused, that looked like an empowered hit, so it probably was Amnesia that it used. It took her a moment to get back up.
“Keo, use Hex.” It took her a second to refocus before the burst of ghost energy swirled around her and shot at Slowking. However it was met with another shield, which shattered from the contact. “Again! Keep it up!”
Another two Protects were shattered before the confusion finally got hold, and the energy backfired and burst, causing the Slowking to flinch and take recoil damage from the failed attack, before it was struck with the Hex. I wasn’t sure if that was enough, but I didn’t get a chance to even wonder as a second Hex struck them. And then a third.
“Keo, that’s enough!” I shouted, realizing that she wasn’t going to stop unless I ordered her.
The energy she was gathering for another Hex dissipated and she looked over at me. I watched as the Slowking let out a sort of soft cough before slumping forward and crashing to the ground. Honestly I was surprised it had been still standing after taking several Hexes and Icy Winds. Sure, it was strong against ice energy, but it was weak to ghost, and the damage hex would deal would be doubled because of the status effect of confusion, so that meant it would be further increased. That Slowking had a massively high defense and health pool.
Before I could take a better look at the state they were in, they disappeared in a red light. I hesitated. “I have a medical Pokemon, do you want her to take a look at them?” I asked as I looked over at the man.
He seemed to think about it a moment and then shake his head. “Maybe after the battle.”
“Keo, come on back,” I said, and she frowned at me. “You’ll get a lot more fighting today with the Trial.” I couldn’t help chuckling. Her and Rio just wanted to fight and get stronger so bad.
With a huff she walked back, holding her head up high.
I knelt down and pet her before she could get past me. “Good job.” She huffed again, but didn’t try to get away from my attention. “Brionne, your turn.”
With a bit of help from Scoly, she launched into the air, landing on me and using me as a springboard to get into the arena. All the Pokemon started to snicker softly, and even the man across from me put a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing. Keo at least had the good mind to get out of my reach before she laughed.
I stood back up, shaking my head with a sigh.
“So, a Brionne,” the man said, sounding like he hadn’t even looked at my Pokemon since I arrived. “Usually they’re Primarina’s by the time they get to this Trial.”
That was interesting, but it was probably because I was doing all of these Trials drastically out of order. I’d even skipped over the entire canyon, so it wasn’t surprising. However I could see that Brionne was immediately frustrated at the comment. She had expressed a want to reach her final evolution after spending so much time with Alma and the other Primarina.
Before I had a chance to say anything, suddenly the man's shadow stretched and twisted in a strange manner before a large purple Pokemon slowly rose out of it. It was interesting that he hadn’t even said anything, but maybe he always used his Gengar against the Primarina line, so he just knew to come out?
“Ready?” he asked, glancing from Brionne to his Gengar.
“Ready. Time for a song, Brionne,” I said with a smirk.
I could see a slight blush appear on Brionne’s face, but she sat up a bit straighter, putting a hand on her chest before she began to sing. This was a moment that I wanted to test. Since she had the Liquid Voice ability, that would change the type of Sing from normal to water, and thus bypass Gengar’s immunity to normal attacks. Brionne had also learned how to better control her voice attacks so that they didn’t affect bystanders. Which was a fascinating thing to find out was possible. It meant that moves could be used in a way to not affect certain people or Pokemon.
Judging from the confusion on the man's face, he wasn’t sure what I was doing. Gengar was taking advantage of the perceived slip up by its opponent, and using some sort of buff move. However, when the purple Pokemon had finished, I saw the way its eyes began to droop, and it wobbled a bit. Before it could do anything else, it toppled back, snoring softly. It even had a comical snot bubble.
“What… wait, what happened?” the man asked, staring at his Gengar snoozing in front of him.
“Liquid Voice. It’s an extremely rare ability that the Primarina line has. It changes sound based moves energy from their type into water energy. So the move Sing changes from normal, to water,” I explained with a smile.
He just stared at me for a moment and then looked back at his Gengar. “What?”
“It makes Sing a water type move. I was betting that you wouldn’t know about it, since no one else I’ve mentioned it to seems to be aware of it.” It had been a bit of a gamble, but not even the Professors seemed to be aware of the ability and its effect, so I was fairly confident that this Trainer wouldn’t know.
He was just frowning, but after another moment he pulled out a pokeball and returned his Gengar. That was a bit of a surprise. Brionne was also surprised. She had been preparing for the battle, using Aqua Ring and Amnesia, she had even covered the area with Misty Terrain.
Clearly he was annoyed and didn’t want a buffed up Pokemon to get free shots, and would rather return them to keep them from getting hurt. “Go, Noctowl. Use Fly.” The large brown owl shaped Pokemon burst from the pokeball only to immediately soar up into the sky.
“Ice them down, Brionne!” I called with a smile. Battling was honestly quite a lot of fun. Watching Brionne aim up, opening her mouth and shooting off light blue beams at the shape in the sky. Unlike in the game, Fly didn’t make a Pokemon completely immune, but it did make them a lot harder to hit.
The missing beams collided with the cliff walls, causing streaks of ice to shoot up several meters. However this Noctowl was extremely maneuverable, and managed to avoid every beam until it was practically right on top of her. She barely managed to clip their wing before they slammed into them.
Or at least they would have, but instead Brionne disappeared into a puff of smoke, leaving a sort of pokedoll made of energy in her place. He had given her too much time to prepare, and she had used Substitute as part of her buffing up. She was the only one who had managed to learn it from Mikyu and Banette. It was an extremely interesting move, as the doll was temporary and made from normal type energy. The first time I had seen it all I could think of was substitution jutsu.
Noctowl then took a full force ice beam to the back, which looked like it hurt. The owl immediately flipped around, twisting and shattering the ice on its back before unleashing a flurry of Air Slashes. Brionne blasted a water jet into the ground to evade and I watched as the stream of water was split into several different streams by at least five blades made of air. Two of which actually managed to graze Brionne, leaving large red marks across her.
But the owl wasn’t done as it lunged forward, grasping hold of Brionne before she could properly recover from her maneuver. With a spin they tossed her into the air and then took in a deep breath, its beak opening and I saw the white glint in its mouth. An intense beam of energy was shot upward as the Noctowl used Hyper Beam.
The beam lasted for a few seconds and when it dissipated, there was an extremely burnt up doll in the place that Brionne had been. However she wasn’t far away, and still in the air due to the nature of how Substitute worked, only moving the user a short distance away. Noctowl needed a moment to recover from the Hyper Beam and couldn’t react as Brionne suddenly spun in the air, bursting into a small tornado of ice and water. Using her ice and water energy to copy the way that Scoly spun, she used something similar to Ice Spinner.
The two of them collided in the air and both came crashing down hard into an explosion of ice and water. Both Pokemon seemed a bit disoriented, but Brionne was on top of the Noctowl and didn’t hesitate to open her mouth and fire a point blank Ice Beam. The beam then shifted from ice to water as she changed it to Aqua Jet to not only continue to blast the ice block of an owl again but to also get distance.
She looked rough, two large red marks across her body, which I could see were bleeding slightly in certain places. Part of her looked a bit sunburned just from being so close to the Hyper Beam, and she was practically gasping for breath, struggling to stay upright. Her Aqua Ring was still going, which was, once again, probably the only thing keeping her from fainting.
The owl disappeared in a burst of red as the man returned them. “That was a good fight,” he said with a chuckle. “Your Brionne is going to truly be a monster once it evolves.”
I moved forward to pick Brionne up, moving back to hand her to the waiting Dee. “You did such a good job,” I said with a smile, gently rubbing her non-sunburnt cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned into my hand, a faint smile on her face.
By the time I turned around I could see that he had already sent out his last Pokemon. A large green dragon shaped creature, with large red dome like lenses over its eyes. A ground dragon type like Flygon was going to be annoying to deal with, since I didn’t have any ice types left. He had probably saved it for last because of that. Cara was a bad choice since she was weak to ground energy, and it would be immune to Scoly’s poison.
While I did have two Pokemon to his one, it was clear that they were strong. The Slowking must have been his weakest Pokemon, and I had gotten a gimme with Gengar. She would at least be resistant to their dragon attacks, and I wanted to give her more chances to show off and gain experience. Wait… why was I even worried? “Cara, you’re up.” She looked at me curiously and I smiled at her. “Show ‘em what you got.”
She gave a smile in return as she stepped into the area. “Ready?” the man called out, a slight smirk on his face.
“The question is, are you ready?” I responded, wearing a smirk on my face as well. Cara’s aura flared up before condensing and focusing on her paws and feet. The Flygon took this as the start and rushed forward, but when it reached the spot that Cara was, she wasn’t there and its attack hit nothing but air.
Cara made contact with both paws into its side, causing it to slide several feet away. It twisted, trying to strike her with a tail coated in the purple blue dragon energy, but she ducked below, moving forward and striking it twice more in the back. It twisted and attempted to Bite, its jaws snapping the empty space that she had been in.
She took advantage of its over extension and grabbed hold of it by the neck, setting her feet, twisting slightly at the waist, and then throwing the large Pokemon at full force into the wall of the canyon. It sat there a moment, clearly stunned and trying to figure out what just happened. “Move!” the man shouted in an attempt to get his Pokemon to refocus.
I was focused on watching Cara rather than the Flygon. She was charging an Aura Sphere, and it was the most stable one she had ever managed. It was a massive swirling ball of energy, and when she launched it, I realized that she was doing something similar to the stance I had made when I was messing around trying to use a Kamehameha. I had a slight pang of embarrassment, but there was no denying its effectiveness.
The Flygon barely managed to dive out of the way before the Aura Sphere collided with the wall and erupted into a small explosion that further propelled the poor thing and slammed it into the ground. It slid for quite a while before coming to a stop. It looked back at the small crater in the wall, and then at its trainer with a pleading gaze.
However the trainer was a bit stunned, until Cara turned towards them. I could see his eyes widen a bit. “I forfeit!” he shouted quickly.
I couldn’t help but laugh, while Cara just folded her arms, clearly disappointed. That Aura Sphere had been mostly show, rather than power. Just a big flash of energy with not a lot of substance. All it did was demonstrate that while her control had increased a lot, she wasn’t able to get the density tight enough. So it was quite an impressive sight, but not very strong. She knew that, I knew that, but apparently our opponent didn’t know that.
I stepped forward to pat her on the shoulder. “You’ll get there,” I said softly. “That was the best one you’ve done so far.” Out of the corner of my eye I watched as he pulled his phone back out and began messing with it again. I did the same, ending the recording. There was a prompt asking if I ‘won’ or if I ‘lost’, and it was rather satisfying to press ‘won’. Immediately I noticed that I had received four thousand pokedollars as a reward for winning. I hadn’t even realized there was a wager in this… but I guess it made sense that Trainers had to make money somehow.
I heard the man let out a rather heavy sigh, which drew my attention back to him. “Well, good battle,” he said with a bit of a chuckle.
“Do you want Dee to look over your Pokemon?” I asked as I gestured back to her, as she was treating Brionne.
He seemed to think it over for a moment before shaking his head. “Nah, I’ll just head straight to the Pokecenter.”
When I opened my mouth to say that it would take quite a while to hike back down the mountain, and that he would be doing it without his team at full strength. Then he pulled out a small lime green device and pushed a button. “A Ride Pager,” I said with a bit of a sigh before slapping my forehead. I had completely forgotten about those.
“Don’t have one?” he asked, apparently amused.
I shook my head. “No,” I said with a sigh. “I forgot to get one.” And no one had offered to give me one.
Suddenly there was a deep rumbling shout from above. “Ooii!”
Looking up I saw a rather impressive orange reptile, with large wings and a flame at the tip of its tail. This was my first time seeing a Charizard. “Well…” My attention returned to the man as he waved the pager so that the Pokemon could see it. “They only give Pagers to trusted individuals, and it’s hard for outsiders to get them.”
With a rather heavy thump, the Charizard landed, taking a look around at all the Pokemon. The first thing I noticed was I was just a few inches taller than them. The games and anime always made Charizard look huge, but clearly that wasn’t the case. “Alright, come on,” he said to the man.
I wasn’t sure if the man understood, or was just keen on getting out of the canyon, as he mounted up onto the back of the flying lizard. “See ya around!” he called out as the Charizard shot into the air with one good flap of its wings.
“Definitely want a flying Pokemon…” I muttered as I watched them disappear over the side of the canyon wall. Slowly my gaze drifted down to the path ahead that the man had been blocking. It was a sort of tunnel, and had two intricately carved sort of tiki poles on either side, surrounded by rocks at the base, and had sort of wooden painted flags coming off of them. The faces carved into them were of Pokemon, clearly depicting Jangmo-o, Hakamo-o, and Kommo-o.
Just on the other side of the sort of small cave I could see a large stone tablet, and if I looked hard enough I could even see a pedestal in the distance. I was debating how to go about this, whether to just full force my way in quickly, or take it in a more slow and cautious way.
Cara suddenly tugged a bit at my coat and I looked down at her. She was staring towards the pedestal. “I can sense something really powerful,” she said softly, her eyes not not moving.
“There’s a Totem Kommo-o there,” I replied with a bit of a nod.
I could see her hackles raise. “Like Alma?” Rio asked as she stepped beside her mother, also staring at the pedestal.
“Yes,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. I looked back, Scoly looked excited, with an equally excited Keo and Brionne on her back, the little seal was looking much better, though the side of her face still looked a bit red. Her other passengers, Mikyu and Goomy, didn’t look quite excited. Though Banette had a rather curious expression. Diancie was bobbing up and down, also seemingly excited. This would be the first time she battled alongside everyone since the dragon fight. Ironic that it was going to be another dragon fight. Dee looked nervous, but also determined, which was a pleasant sight.
“This is exciting,” Eevee said softly from my shoulder.
I laughed a bit more as I reached up and scratched under her chin. “C’mon everyone.” I gestured for everyone to follow as I walked forward. I decided that I should record whatever happened, and so pulled out my phone and set it to record. I should probably do that for every battle.
As soon as I crossed the line between the two tikis, there was a pressure that rushed past me like a gust of wind and I felt my heartrate pick up a bit. It was like when I first met Alma, that near overwhelming feeling of being in the presence of something that was extremely powerful. However this time we weren’t here to talk. We were here to pick a fight. And this dragon wasn’t going to be tired from sixteen hours of fighting dozens of Pokemon.
I stopped at the stone tablet, looking at the faded writing and reading aloud, “Ahead lies a sacred ground of Trials. None who do not take part in its Trials will be allowed to walk upon this earth. Those lacking the courage to defeat the Totem guarding this land will be denied entry. But those who believe in their Pokemon and walk beside them shall gain great power!”
There was a moment of silence, where the only noise that we could hear was the rush of wind. Then came a roar that shook the entire canyon. From ledges above, figures began dropping down. Some were quadrupedal, gray with heart shaped gold plates on their head. Others were bipedal, standing nearly double in height with plates along their arms. And behind them all was an absolutely massive figure, plates running down its arms.
I couldn’t help but gulp. “That is… a lot more than was in the game…” I muttered. There were over two dozen Jangmo-o, half as many Hakamo-o, and the Totem Kommo-o. I cleared my throat, taking a deep breath to calm my nerves a bit. “They’re dragon fighting types, ice and fairy type moves are going to be your best bet.”
“A well prepared Challenger!” the Kommo-o said, laughing as he did. Despite the distance, it was extremely easy to hear him, as if they were standing in front of us. “Very good. Very good. I know much of you, and expected nothing less. To bring forth so many at once, unlike most Challengers that we must hold back against as we proceed with small skirmishes!” He spread his arms out wide. “Come! Let us revel in the sounds of the clash of battle!”
In response, all of the Jangmo-o and Hakamo-o stomped, taking a stance and shouting. The Jangmo-o looked like they would charge, while the Hakamo-o were crouched, one arm raised with the other pointing out at us. I felt a shiver run down my spine, but I couldn’t help but smile. They had declared their intent to battle.
I looked over the crowd of Pokemon, doing a quick count. There were over forty between us and the pedestal. That seemed a bit unfair. After a beat of silence, the crowd in front of us charged, shouting as they did. “Diancie. Full range.”
She let out a bit of a giggle as she raised her hand, and out of the corner of my eye I could see a rather mischievous look on her face. “Down!” she shouted as she brought her hand down.
I almost felt bad as the wave of high Gravity crashed into the Jangmo-o, as every single one of them immediately ate dirt. Several of the Hakamo-o did as well, but there were more than a dozen that remained up and running. They must be strong and closer to evolving than the others. Although it did cause them to hesitate.
Behind them, the Kommo-o laughed. “Interesting!”
“Try not to hit the ones who are down,” I said before Rio and Cara shot forward into the still standing crowd, Keo right behind them. They were met with flurries of Dragon Claws, and many beams of Dragon Pulse. Behind me I could hear the grinding of bug on stone as Scoly spun up.
Diancie shot a Moonblast at one of the struggling Hakamo-o that was trying to get forward, and I was glad that she remembered that she could do other things besides just Gravity. Brionne also let loose with a Moon Beam that clipped several Pokemon, clearly aiming at the Totem. The massive Pokemon raised an arm and the beam was deflected off one of its arm plates and collided into the cliff side.
Goomy, Mikyu, and Banette stayed grouped up as they charged forward. I hadn’t seen Mikyu or Banette in combat, so I was curious as to how they would fight. To my surprise, Goomy had really taken to being a tank and leapt forward in front of the two, taking a hit from a Hakamo-o. The blow sent her splatting slightly into the ground, but the recoil from hitting the slug threw the attacker’s hand back sharply, which left it open for Mikyu to jump on it and disappear into a cloud of fists and noises as she used Play Rough.
Keo was dancing circles around the slowed Hakamo-o, blasting them with Ice Beam and Icy Wind as she ran about. With how she moved, sloppily ducking or jumping around claw and tail strikes, it was clear she still wasn’t fully used to the Gravity, but her opponents were in an even worse state.
“You don’t have to fight, Dee,” I said softly to the pink Pokemon that had come up to my side. She was hesitating, glancing from me to the others as they fought. I placed a hand on her back, gently rubbing it.
Before she responded, Scoly shot forward. Rather than going for any of the crowd, she hit the side of the canyon, flying across it and straight at the Kommo-o. Before she could even reach them, their hands burst into the blue of dragon energy and struck together in front of them. There was a burst, and the sound similar to a gong as the air practically exploded. I was certain that that was Clanging Scales, Kommo-o’s signature move.
The resulting blast launched Scoly away, causing her to ricochet several times off the canyon walls back to the group of Pokemon. She struck off several Hakamo-o, but when she was about to hit Rio, she struck her and sent her flying into another Hakamo-o. This happened a few more times as Rio and Cara used Scoly to attack and cause problems throughout the battlefield.
A flash of dragon fire caught my eye as I saw Goomy using Dragon Breath against a Hakamo-o’s Dragon Pulse. When it looked like the little slug was about to lose, the other dragon suddenly collapsed. Banette was standing behind it, looking down at it curiously. I hadn’t seen what she had done, but if I had to guess it was Shadow Sneak.
Brionne had changed targets, and was now helping Diancie to whittle down the large amount of Pokemon. Several of those that had initially been taken down by Gravity had started to adjust and were standing up. None of the poor Jangmo-o seemed to be able to, but a lot more Hakamo-o were joining the battle.
There was a sudden flash behind me and the Moon Beam from Brionne increased in intensity. When I looked back, I smiled as she was shining brightly in a mixture of blue and pink energy. As it faded, she had tripled in size, and now sported long flowing teal hair. “Finally!” She exclaimed as she had evolved into Primarina. She was laughing as she continued to fire off Moon Beams, which were noticeably more powerful. From the fact that I could still see a bit of red tint to the side of her face, it looked like the evolution hadn’t fully recovered her.
Dee pulled on my sleeve, and I turned my attention around to her. “Hm?”
She gestured at the Totem Pokemon, who was stomping, and causing their scale plates to ring out. It took me a moment before I realized they were buffing themself. They were using Clangorous Soul to increase all of their stats. That wasn’t something they could use in the Sun and Moon games, but it was something that they could later since Z-Moves couldn’t be used. It was still a surprise to see it and didn’t seem really fair to use when they weren’t even in the fight yet.
However when I looked back at the battle it seemed like all of the Hakamo-o had been defeated. Cara, Rio, Keo, and Scoly were all standing in the middle of what truly looked like a battlefield. All of them were panting, looking around to make sure that none of them were getting up. Well, Scoly wasn’t, she was wobbling back and forth and struggling to keep upright.
Mikyu, Banette, and Goomy looked extremely rough. It looked like Mikyu’s costume was broken with the way the head was sagging, and I could see a bunch of marks that had nearly cut through it. Goomy looked like she actually had a black eye, which was rather impressive considering how her body seemed to work. Banette had a ton of marks across her that looked almost like scars. “Dee, go help those three. No more fighting for them.”
She nodded and quickly jogged towards them. All three looked relieved that their fight was over, even Banette. Brionne- no wait, it was Primarina now, moved up beside me. “I evolved,” she said happily.
I reached over and rubbed the top of her head. “Good job.” I looked over at Diancie, who was sort of swaying and twirling in celebration. “And you did a good job, too. Now, for the actual fight.” I looked over at the Kommo-o, who had a rather large smile on its face.
“Well done!” he called out, laughing. “Now! Come! Let me feel what your team can do!”
We moved past the Pokemon on the ground, most of which were unconscious. “Diancie, release your Gravity for now.”
With a wave of her hand, those defeated Pokemon were no longer under the pressure. Some of them stood up, clearly upset at being defeated in such a way, but knowing they couldn’t do anything.
The Totem Kommo-o waited for us to approach. This part of the canyon was much larger, which was clearly the reason why they were waiting. Fighting in the canyon would have been detrimental to them due to how large they were. I wondered if they would use the mechanics of the game and call assistance. Having to deal with a Noivern or a Scizor on top of the Totem Pokemon would be annoying.
“My name is Jason, though I prefer Jace. I am here for the Dragonium,” I said with a bit of laughter mixed into my tone, putting my hands on my hips and standing up straight.
The Totem looked down at me with a bit of a frown before a smile crept onto their face. “I am the Totem Durn. I dare you to try.”
“Go.” At my word, Cara, Rio, and Keo rushed forward. Both Lucario struck forward, using Metal Claw, which was countered with a dragon energy covered fist and ended in a stalemate. Durn was able to fend off both of them with one hand. Keo ran to the side, firing an Ice Beam which struck the Totem’s shoulder. Diancie raised her hand, but I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Wait,” I said softly.
Primarina shot a Moon Beam, which was again deflected by the plates across the Kommo-o’s arm. But now that we were this close, I could see that the intense fairy energy was leaving quite a severe mark on the arm. Then they had to use that arm to block Scoly as she shot forward, slamming into him.
“Now.” Diancie immediately dropped her hand and Gravity spiked. However, immediately I noticed that they seemed completely unaffected. I was hoping to throw it off balance.
“You think a mere tripling of Gravity would hinder me?” He laughed as he blocked another full spin shot from Scoly.
I was about to retort until what he just said actually registered. Triple? As in three? Wait, three? This was only three times? This sure felt like a heck of a lot more than three. My brow furrowed as I tried to think where I even got the comparison to think that it was ten times. And then I felt my face get a bit red as I remembered. There was a carnival that I liked to go to, and one of the rides boasted that it would be like feeling ten times the gravity. This was about the same feeling and I had based my entire assumption on the boastful words of a carny.
Wow, and I had been so confident. That was extremely unscientific of me to not even question why I thought it was ten times… Did that mean that when Diancie had lowered it, it was less than double? Or was I just awful at telling the difference? I really didn’t want to think about it… Man, that is extremely embarrassing that I didn’t even question it and just went with my gut…
For now I would just have to ignore my past over exaggeration and focus.
Suddenly Durn slammed both of his fists together and there was an explosion of force. The force was so extreme that both Cara, Rio, and Keo were launched back, slamming into the walls of the canyon. I felt the wind pressure from the move, but it didn’t actually hurt at this range. But the sound of it was uncomfortable. Boomburst, one of the strongest sound moves was no joke when used by something like a Totem.
I realized I lost track of Scoly for a moment, until I heard her shout, “Meteor Horn!” She had used the momentum from the Boomburst to go up the cliff, and was again using her new improvised move.
Looking up, it was almost as if Durn knew that they had to take the move at least a little seriously as they went Super Saiyan, bursting into an aura of shining golden light as they activated their Totem Aura. They raised both arms, which shined in steel energy and took the blow head on. The ground below the massive Pokemon buckled and cracked as a noticeable crater formed under them.
Durn swung their arms open, which caused Scoly to bounce up a bit into the air. “Not bad!” they shouted as they pulled their arm back. Scoly immediately curled up just before the massive dragon energy covered fist of the Kommo-o slammed into her and spiked her into the ground. I expected her to bounce, but instead she was now embedded into the dirt.
The Kommo-o barely raised their other arm to block a blow from Rio, who struck with her Bone Rush staff. Then their chest exploded into the violet energy of Cara’s Aura Sphere, and before the smoke from the energy had cleared, a Moon Beam and Moonblast struck their chest as well, followed by an Ice Beam raking across their back.
“Good!” they shouted. “Now this is a fight!” Their chest was marred with wounds from the three direct hits, and they were breathing hard. I could see the remnants of poison on their arms that had clearly seeped in. Yet even after all that, they were still standing and ready to fight.
This was a Totem Pokemon.
The difference in power was immense. How was anyone supposed to beat something like this in a one on one fight? Clearly the Kommo-o took it easy on Trial participants and focused more on the courage aspect to be able to face them. But I wasn’t doing that. They seemed to know that my courage had already been tested somewhat, and they just wanted a fight.
So a fight I would give them.
I pulled up my sleeve. “Cara! Rio!” I pulled free the Fightinium from the grasp of my Z-Rings band and placed it into the center slot. The two of them looked back, seeing the motion. I wanted to know if I could have them both use it at the same time? Time to find out.
The moment I crossed my arms I felt it. The flow and pull of the energy. It was as if I was suddenly connected to Rio and Cara by our energy. No wonder they couldn’t get it previously, you needed to actually do it to truly understand it.
As I performed the first movement, the large sumo like step, the Totem spotted it, but before he could comment or do anything he was struck with another series of fairy and ice attacks, as well as a Poison Jab delivered by a now recovered Scoly.
Every part had a purpose, every fist thrown out held some sort of meaning. And I could actually feel it. Like I was doing more than just giving orders, I was actually lending my will to them, and then I hit the last pose. “All-Out Pummeling!” I shouted.
Both Cara and Rio had been matching the movements, and the moment I finished there was a burst of orange light from the band and it rushed to the two of them. They flashed and ignited in energy. There was barely a second before both of them began rapidly palming the air in front of them. Each one sent what looked like a paw of energy at the Kommo-o.
Immediately afterwards I fell to a knee, gasping for air. I was absolutely exhausted, barely managing to watch as the Totem was absolutely slammed with strike after strike, each one leaving bruises in the shape of paws all over its body.
Durn staggered back several steps before falling back into a sitting position. No one moved, waiting. Well, no one but Dee, who rushed over to me and was helping me back up as she used Healing Pulse. It took a moment, but eventually the massive Totem’s eyes rolled back and it fell back and disappeared for a few seconds in a puff of dust.
“Thank you, Dee,” I said before I started laughing. “That was harder than I thought.”
“That was awesome!” Rio exclaimed, raising her fists in the air. She was panting softly, clearly a bit out of breath.
“And tiring,” Cara added with a nod, also panting softly. “But also…very strong.”
Everyone gathered up, and Dee began to check over everyone, using Heal Pulse several times to help with everyone’s wounds. Surprisingly Durn hadn’t done much attacking, mostly blocking. Maybe that was him taking it easy on us?
I stopped my phone from recording as I walked over to the pedestal, my legs a bit wobbly. Up close it was a very simple rock with a carved out nook in the front. Inside was a cyan colored crystal, a bit off from the color of dragon energy, with an interesting symbol in it that appeared to be something containing a spiral, something like a basic interpretation of dragon flame.
Reaching in and pulling out the crystal, I took another moment to examine it. “Dee? Could you heal Durn, and the Jangmo-o and Hakamo-o as well?” She nodded and quickly moved over to the massive Kommo-o. I put the Dragonium against the bracelet, and returned the Fightinium as well. Now that I had more Z-Crystals I realized that each one seemed to have its own place. Was I supposed to collect them all? There were a few that I had not planned to get, like most of the specific Pokemon ones.
“A good fight,” a rather rough voice said and I turned to see Durn sitting up, a big smile on his face. Dee was a bit startled that they suddenly got up and quickly hurried off to help the other knocked out Pokemon. “As expected of the chosen Bridge.” He was a bit slow to get up, and was still covered in paw shaped bruises.
My brow immediately furrowed. “Bridge? What’s that mean?”
He looked at me for a moment and then laughed. “Ah! Forgive me. I guess it has not been explained to you. Lord Arceus is fickle like that, and the Earth Mother does not reveal what is not necessary until the time is right.”
I frowned at him. “That doesn’t answer my question. What does that mean?”
Again he laughed. “My apologies, but I do not know the answer. It is merely what the Earth Mother referred to you as.”
That sounded like a lie, but it also sounded like he wasn’t going to tell me. “Okay… Then who is the Earth Mother?”
He shook his head. “That is not for me to say.”
“Oh don’t give me that. You can’t just spout random things like that, and then just not exposit on them!” I was trying not to shout. This sounded like a hint. The first hint that I’d gotten as to why I was here.
“Ah, but that is where you are wrong.” With that, he performed a leap that caused enough wind it nearly knocked me over. When I looked up, I only saw his tail disappear over the edge of the cliff.
“Shoulda left your ass unconscious…” I muttered with a sigh. That was two bits of information that sounded extremely important. The first being chosen Bridge. I was some sort of Bridge? Was that a Bridge between worlds? Locations? Things? Was I already a bridge, or was I going to be used as a bridge in the future? Or was it some kind of metaphorical bridge? Was it even a concept of bridge that I was aware of? Is this why I can talk to Pokemon? So many questions, and no answers.
And then there was this Earth Mother. They made it sound like an actual thing rather than a concept, something akin to Mother Earth, or Gaia. Well, I mean I could just take it literally that that was what it was. Considering they seemed to put them roughly on the same level as Arceus I could only assume they were some sort of god Pokemon that I didn’t know about. That was both exciting and concerning.
Well, there was no reason to dwell on it now. I would have to shelve the questions, ask some Professors or maybe the Kahuna about it. It’s just frustrating to feel that I was close to finding out something. I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly to calm myself. There was no point in getting bothered about it, since they made it sound like I’d find out eventually. The question was, how long would that be? Days? Months? Years? Only they know.
Now it was time to turn my attention back to the current problem. I was out here in the canyon, with everyone on my team tired, aside from Dee, Diancie, and Primarina who looked in good shape. And ahead… was the Altar. I still wanted to see that. But first, I needed to find a place to let everyone rest, and from the looks of the dragon Pokemon around, we weren’t exactly welcome here.
“I want everyone but Dee, Primarina, and Diancie to return to the pokeballs,” I said as I opened up my coat. “We’re gonna move a bit ahead to the Altar and see if there’s a place to rest.”
“Altar?” Primarina asked, looking past the stone pedestal to the cavern path ahead.
“Yeah, it’s a place I want to see.” Several Pokemon had already returned, clearly too tired to argue or eager to return to the comfort of a pokeball. Cara was the only one who seemed hesitant, standing beside me. I reached over and rubbed the top of her head. “It’s okay, I’ll be fine.”
She looked at me for a moment. “Alright. If you’re sure,” she said before returning.
With that the four of us made our way through the short tunnel. Primarina was much more confident and could get around a lot more easily, having learned a lot from the other seals. “That was fun!” Diancie suddenly announced, floating around us in circles.
“I’m very glad you enjoyed it,” I said with a chuckle, reaching out and rubbing the diamond on top of her head as she passed. She stopped moving in order to grab my hand.
Dee stopped walking, and the rest of us stopped in the little cave. She had a rather sour look on her face. I reached over and started to rub her back. Her head drooped a bit forward, and her shoulders slumped. “I don’t have to fight, right?”
“Of course you don’t,” I said softly.
“Yeah, you do lots for us,” Primarina added with a smile, coming up onto the other side of Dee. “You help us train, fix us up when we get hurt, and- well, okay you’re not good at cooking, but you help Jace cook!”
Dee tried to frown, but couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Right. Yeah.”
“You play an extremely important role in the family, Dee.” I was continuing to rub her back, feeling the scars. “It’s okay if you don’t want to fight. It really is.”
“But…” Her brow furrowed and her little hands clenched. “But I do want to fight, I'm just… I just… I can’t. I get like…this knot in my chest and I start to list off the reasons I shouldn’t fight…”
“Why do you think you shouldn’t fight?” I asked after a moment of silence.
“I have to take care of everyone else. I have to make sure that if anyone gets hurt, that I can help.” She was staring hard at the ground as she spoke.
I crouched down a bit in order to be at eye level with her. “What you do is very important. But you’re not confident that you can help out in a fight, right?”
She looked up at me before looking away. “I’ve never been able to fight when I need to.”
Gently I grabbed hold of her hands, which she still had clenched into fists. “Why are you training so hard then?”
“I…” she started to speak, but couldn’t seem to find the words to continue.
“You train so hard. Maybe harder than anyone else.” I let go of one of her hands to reach into my bag, pulling out the small remote. The little display showed eighty. Sometimes it was hard to remember that she was wearing the weighted harness, since it was designed to not be visible.
She was staring at the little remote, her brow furrowed.
“We’ll be fighting Kahuna Hapu soon,” I said as I stood back up, putting the remote away. “You’re going to be fighting first, alright?”
Her body jolted slightly as her gaze snapped up. “Me? I… uhm…” She went quiet for a moment before she nodded. “Alright.”
I rubbed her head between her ears. “You’ll do great.”
“Yeah!” Primarina gave her a nudge. “You’re really tough during training. It’ll be so fun to watch you battle.”
I chuckled a bit. “Alright, let's go.” I reached back a moment to check on Eevee, who was sleeping again. I wondered if she would sleep less when she fully recovered, or if it was just her being like that and wanting to sleep all the time.
Passing out of the exit of the cave, the first thing that we could see was the massive staircase in front. We were now in some sort of huge basin, up on a raised area. Not too far to either side of us it dropped off for who knows how far, ending in an odd sort of rocky terrain filled with ponds and flat landings scattered around.
But the most impressive thing was what was in front. It was an absolutely massive structure, several stories high with what looked like a massive wall at the top. We all just stared at it a moment before I started to make my way towards it.
There was a sudden rush of wind to the side and I watched as a Charizard gently landed. Hapu hopped off its back. “Glad I managed to spot you,” she said, smiling up at me. “Eric mentioned that you didn’t have a pager, so I wanted to see if you wanted a ride back after your Trial. Didn’t expect you’d already be done with it.”
I chuckled a bit. “Yeah it was a rough Trial, but satisfying.”
“You up for more battles today?” she asked, an eager look on her face.
To that I shook my head. “No, I’ve only got Dee, Diancie, and Primarina in any shape to battle. And they’ve both used a lot of energy.”
“Ah, sounds like Durn gave you a hard time,” she said with a bit of a giggle. “He can be rough.”
“That’s putting it lightly,” I said with a sigh and a bit of a laugh. “I wasn’t expecting an all out war like that.”
“War?” she asked, clearly confused.
“Ah.” Rather than explain it, I pulled out my phone and showed her the video. I realized as I watched it as well that I hadn’t really been paying attention to the camera and where it was facing, so it missed a lot of things that I had seen, but also captured things that I hadn’t. The Banette-Mikyu combo was rather scary to watch, as they relied on ambushes and sneaking up on Pokemon who were focused on something else.
“I’ve never heard of this Trial going like this…” Hapu muttered after a moment. “I’ll have to talk to Grandma about this.”
“Durn did complain that he usually did small skirmishes, and sounded bored of them.” The video had now gotten to the fight against the Totem Kommo-o. Now that there was only one place to focus, the camera work got much better. Or at least was a lot more focused on the actual fight.
Then it got to the end, and Hapu’s mouth actually fell open as she watched the double combo All-Out Pummeling. It took her a moment after the video ended before she spoke, “Are you alright?”
“Hm?” I paused as I was putting my phone away. “Yeah? Tired in a way that I can’t quite describe, but other than that I’m fine.”
She looked me up and down for a moment. “Are you sure?”
My brow furrowed a bit. “Yeah. I wasn’t expecting that much power to be pulled for using two Z-Moves at once, but it wasn’t that bad.”
“Usually people pass out,” she said, her voice tinged with concern. “It’s been tried before, but even doing two Z-Moves in a row, or even within a few minutes of each other, causes the Trainer to collapse. It takes a lot of training for even Elite Trainers to be able to use it twice in the same battle. I can’t even do multiple a day.”
I thought about it for a moment before shrugging. “I do a lot of training with my Pokemon. Maybe the training helped? How many times can Kahuna Hala do it?”
She had to think about it for a moment. “I’ve heard of him doing it three times in a row, but he nearly passed out after.”
That was interesting, that there was clearly a method to be able to use it more often. I remembered that Hala had also been mostly unaffected when under the Gravity field, so maybe that was part of it? I for sure didn’t think I could do another Z-Move right now considering how tired I was. “I see…”
“But, I’ve never heard of someone successfully doing two at once.” She folded her arms, thinking hard about it. Eventually she shrugged. “Another question for Grandma.”
I chuckled a bit. “Must be nice having a knowledgeable grandmother.”
She nodded. “She mentioned you came by. Or, well, she mentioned someone that seemed to be you with a bunch of Pokemon, so I assume it was you.”
“If you mean the elderly lady by the turnip farm, then yes,” I said with a bit of a smile.
She nodded. “Yeah. That’s my farm. Well, technically it’s my family's farm, but since it’s just me and Grandma, it’s pretty much my farm.” She nodded a few times as she spoke.
“And now you’re Kahuna.” I wanted to see if I could find out how that happened.
“Well, technically.” She frowned a bit. “The Tapu recognize me, and the other Kahuna, but a lot of people refuse to acknowledge that I’m the Kahuna. It makes doing stuff difficult, but Grandma has helped out a ton, since everyone respects her.”
I nodded slowly, looking down at her. “Well, some people have problems listening to those younger than them.”
Her face scrunched up. “Yeah. Which is annoying.” Suddenly her expression became a bit more fierce as she stared at me. “Which reminds me, why were you heading up to the Poni Altar?”
Well that explained what the name was at least. That was the name for it in the manga, which gave me a bit of an idea. “Am I not allowed to see it?” I asked instead of answering.
She paused for a moment before speaking, “It’s not that you can’t… But Trial Goers go back after finishing the Trial, since there’s nothing here aside from the Altar and you can’t leave the canyon.”
“Part of the reason I chose Poni Island for my first area was to see this Altar,” I said truthfully. “It’s an incredible place of power and history. And not like I have either of the flutes to do anything with it.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw her flinch, her hand moving to her bag. So she had one of the flutes like in the manga? That was an interesting bit of knowledge. “Even then, I don’t really want to bother with the Ultra Wormholes. I’ve had enough dimensional travel by accident and would rather not try anything on purpose.”
There was a moment of silence and I looked over to see what Primarina, Diancie, and Dee were doing while I was talking. They were sitting near the edge, looking down into what was essentially a valley, and talking quietly to each other. Occasionally they glanced back at me to see if we were leaving yet.
“Kukui said you’re a Pokemon Expert, and said you knew a lot of stuff that most people don’t know,” Hapu finally spoke after a time. “So why do you want to see the Altar?”
“Just to see it, if you can believe that,” I said with a chuckle. “There are so many places that I want to go and see… And this place is important.”
“It’s been dormant for centuries. Part of the reason I was made Kahuna is because I was the only one my grandfather taught its history to.” She still had quite a fierce look on her face, like she really did not believe me.
Again I chuckled. “It’ll be important,” I said with a bit of a smile before starting to walk up the steps.
Dee and Primarina followed after. “Finally,” Primarina said with a huff. “The more I looked at these stairs, the more I was dreading climbing them.”
I laughed. “Well, if you really don’t want to, you can return to your pokeball?”
She seemed to think about that for a moment, but after looking up the stairs again she nodded. “Yeah.” I opened my coat and she disappeared into red light.
“Do you want to as well?” I asked, looking at Dee and Diancie.
There was a moment where she hesitated, but then shook her head. “No. It’s good exercise, right?”
Diancie just tilted her head to the side, slowly floating up the stairs. Clearly unbothered.
I chuckled a bit and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, good training.” Glancing back, I could see that Hapu was following after us, though she looked rather unhappy about doing so.
It took so long to get to the top that I honestly lost track of time. These stairs must be somewhere between fifteen and twenty stories tall. When we finally got to the top, my legs hurt. Dee simply collapsed forward at the top, panting. I can’t imagine how much worse it was for her considering her short legs. Diancie looked fine of course, and Hapu looked completely fine as well.
There were two large pedestals on either side of the end of the staircase, one bearing the Sunne symbol, and the other with the Moone symbol. The path continued ahead to a rhombus shaped platform with a large symbol that was a mixture of both. Past that there were two sort of stone islands surrounded by water, fed from small streams that came from the massive rock ahead. Looking up at the remaining mountain I could see the massive doors with the same mixture of Sunne and Moone symbol emblazoned on it.
As I stepped onto the rhombus platform, I knelt down to take a better look at the symbol. It was like both at the same time, and seemed to almost shift from one to the other as I looked at it and focused on different details.
Turning around I was almost a bit overwhelmed at how much I could see. This platform was well above the plateau of Poni Island. I could see all the way out to the ocean, and the disappearing horizon in the distance. It was sights like this that I wanted to see. Looking to the right, I couldn’t see Exeggutor Island, as it was too close and blocked by the canyon, but if I looked left I could see the Battle Tree. Or at least the canopy of it.
Hearing a groan, I looked down to see Dee rolling onto her back and sitting up on the uppermost step. She was complaining softly until she looked up and went quiet as she looked at the view. Diancie was beside her, completely silent and immobile. I realized that this was something that I should show everyone and opened my coat a bit. “Come out and look.” There was a series of bursting red lights as all of the Pokemon joined me.
“Whoa…” Rio, Scoly, and Keo all said at the same time.
I reached back to pull Eevee out of my hood, who grumbled a bit at being woken up. “Look at the view,” I said with a smile on my face.
“Wha? Whoa…” She wiggled a bit in my arms before pulling herself back onto my shoulder. “You can see so far…” she mumbled.
“It’s like being at the top of the world,” Cara said softly, gently gripping my hand. She had a rather serene look on her face, as if for the first time in a long time she wasn’t worrying about things.
I just smiled as I looked around at all of them. All of the smaller Pokemon had climbed up onto Scoly and were talking softly to each other. As if they spoke too loud they would disturb something. “The world is vast. You can’t even see the other islands from here,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. All in all, it wasn’t even that high. League City back in Kalos was probably at a higher elevation, but you couldn’t see far because of the buildings.
We sat there for a few minutes, enjoying the view. Rio and Keo were the first to lose interest, wanting to go back into their pokeball to rest. Everyone else soon followed, even Primarina, Diancie, and Dee, leaving me alone with Hapu in front of the Altar.
“So, have you seen what you wanted to see?” she asked, almost at eye level with me because I was sitting down.
I glanced over at her. “You get to see this view a lot, huh?”
She paused, looking at me for a moment before nodding. “I come up here fairly often. Not as often since becoming Kahuna.”
“Makes sense. Once you have responsibilities, you get less chances to see all the things that make the world beautiful. It’s not really fair.” I leaned back, resting on my hands. A few moments of silence passed before I took a deep breath and spoke again. “I think it’s time to go back.”
Hapu used her Ride Pager to call two Charizard. I was a bit surprised that people could call two, her response was, “I’m a Kahuna.” Which I guess was enough of an answer. The large not-dragons landed, and I was again somewhat surprised that they were smaller than me. I don’t know why I just kept expecting them to be huge.
I watched as Hapu mounted the one, watching how she did it before doing my best to get onto the other one. It took me a moment to figure out where my feet go, but it was surprisingly comfortable once I was sitting properly. Once Hapu saw that I was situated, she gave the order and we all took off into the sky.
It was a very different experience from the Murkrow, as I didn’t feel like I was dangling. Though I definitely preferred this method of travel, since I had something to grab onto and the Charizard knew how to fly in a very smooth fashion. It was also clear that they knew where they were going without Hapu even telling them, and we soon landed just outside the turnip farm.
“Thank you,” I said to the large fire lizard as I dismounted. I only got a slight grunt in response, but it sounded like one of acknowledgement rather than dismissal. Once both of us were on the ground again, both of them took off and quickly disappeared into the distance.
I was watching them go, but Hapu’s words drew my focus back to the ground. “So when do you want to do your Grand Trial?” She was wearing quite an interesting smile. Behind her in the field I could see the Golurk watching us.
“Tomorrow. I want to let everyone rest for the remainder of the day.” Then I realized. “I’ll need a place to set up camp for the night after visiting the Pokecenter…”
“There’s plenty of places around here to do so,” she said with a vague gesture. “We’ll battle tomorrow, right over there.” She pointed over to what looked like a large open area, something like a field that wasn’t quite in use. Perfect for battling.
I nodded. “Alright.” I smiled a bit. “Then I look forward to reveling in the sounds of the clash of battle,” I said with a chuckle.
Hapu suddenly had a rather confused expression on her face. “Where did you hear that?”
“That’s what the Totem Kommo-o said.”
Her brow furrowed a bit. “Grandpa used to say that all the time…”
I chuckled a bit more. “That’s probably where Durn got it from.” With that I turned, walking back towards Seafolk Village. “Alola!”
Chapter 13
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Brionne - Brionne - EVOLVED Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Goomy - Goomy - Full of dragon slug vibes
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart
Banette - Banette - Collected from the Supermart
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - Bread and butter Ice Beams
Chapter Text
Nurse Joy greeted me with an, “Alola,” and a smile as I entered the Pokecenter. “How was the Trial?” She looked a lot better than yesterday, or maybe this was one of the other Nurse Joy’s? I took a moment to examine her as I walked to the counter, trying to look for any subtle details, but couldn’t spot anything.
“Alola. It went pretty good,” I said as I started to put pokeballs down on the tray. “I’ll be doing the Grand Trial tomorrow.”
Dee burst out almost the moment her pokeball was placed on the tray. Always eager to help out. Nurse Joy also seemed happy for the assistance. “How exciting. It’s sort of the… I guess you could call it the off season for Trials, so hearing about a Grand Trial is quite big news.”
I nodded and chuckled a bit. “Yeah, Hapu seems rather excited about it?”
“She hasn’t done many Grand Trials since becoming a Kahuna,” Nurse Joy said as she turned.
“Ah, before you go, can you also do a checkup on this one?” I asked as I pulled Eevee from my hood, who grumbled at being woken up again. “She’s still recovering from Manepox.”
Nurse Joy didn’t hesitate to reach out and take her. “Oh dear… Well, it does look like she’s over the worst of it…”
“Yeah, it’s been a couple months and as far as Dee or I can see, she’s recovering well. But you know, it doesn’t hurt to get her checked up every now and then.” I still had a lot of medicine for her mixed into pokeblocks, and in the base mush form that it came in. “She sleeps a lot, and I wasn’t sure if that was normal.”
She nodded. “That’s pretty common for about the first eight to nine months. While the initial onset of Manepox shows up as thinning fur, dry skin, scabbed bald patches, severe fever, and muscle degradation, those can be recovered from fairly quickly. One of the most severe detrimental effects is the damage done to a Pokemon’s ability to create, store, and use energy. To compensate for this, they sleep a lot since a Pokemon regains energy most efficiently when sleeping.”
That made a lot of sense, and was a lot more information than the Kalos Nurse Joy had given me. She had mentioned that it weakened a Pokemon’s energy, and the other effects, but this was a lot more detail. Mostly she had just told me how to care for Eevee. I wondered why my knowledge had nothing on pokediseases. “So it mostly affects their energy?”
“And memory.” That wasn’t something I was told about. That sounded like something that should have been mentioned… Maybe Joy forgot to mention it? She was busy after all. Although it was also possible that diseases weren’t her area of expertise and she didn’t know all the details, or maybe the other Joy was the one doing Eevee’s treatment. “Pokemon with Manepox will even forget moves they knew, or even people they’ve met.” She was gently petting the small Eevee in her arms as she spoke, who had fallen back asleep.
“Is it possible for them to even forget their Trainer?” I asked, curious if that was the reason she was so against searching, or why she never mentions them.
She nodded. “If they are separated during the fever stage. You’ve probably noticed that she has trouble walking? Or didn’t communicate a lot?”
I nodded in response. “She said it was painful.”
“That’s because she mostly forgot how, so was probably not doing it right. It’s something where the Pokemon knows it should be able to do something, but can’t do it right. The memory problems can get so bad that it’s possible for a Pokemon to even forget what it is. Thankfully, it looks like her treatment started fairly early in the fever stage, and being around so many other Pokemon has helped her retain her communication abilities and mobility.”
“That really sounds like a dangerous disease…” I muttered, furrowing my brow.
Again she nodded. “Thankfully it’s rare and not very contagious. But despite a lot of research, we can’t find what causes it. Cases seem to crop up randomly, and we think it’s because it has an extremely long incubation period and can become infectious without ever actually affecting the initial infected Pokemon.”
“That sounds like it’s something harmless to most Pokemon, but reacts to a certain genetic trait of a Pokemon to turn harmful,” I said, rubbing my chin a bit.
“We’ve come to a similar conclusion. But we just can’t find the trigger… And a Pokemon that makes it out of the fever stage has no trace of the disease and can’t get it again.” She sighed, shaking her head. “We aren’t quite sure why the recovery period is so long, either.”
“Their body is trying to relearn how to properly make and use energy,” I said, still rubbing my chin as my knowledge actually kicked in and gave an answer. “At least that’s what it sounds like to me.”
Joy had a thoughtful expression on her face for a moment as she thought it over. “That was one of the ideas posited. But we have no way of testing.”
I nodded slowly as I thought over the problem. “With such a disease I imagine that the window to collect samples would be extremely small, especially because you are more worried about the survival of the Pokemon.”
“Right? Right?” she responded in an almost exasperated tone. “And the Association just refuses to understand that. We’ve tried so hard to explain it to them, but they practically refuse to accept that we can’t just magically cure a disease.”
“That’s to be expected of an organization like them… This is a lot more information than I had previously,” I mused aloud. “Thanks for telling me. I wasn’t told all this at first.”
“Most Joy’s wouldn’t know a lot of the details. Mostly just about how to treat it if it comes up, or who to contact if you don’t know. Medicine has so many different areas of study… My mentor specialized in Pokediseases. I plan on taking the same path once I’ve finished my required Pokecenter years,” she said with a smile. So it was a difference of expertise and area of study? That was also good information to have.
I laughed softly, looking at Dee, who had a rather impatient expression on her face as I was preventing her from doing her job. “Anyways, I’ll be at the cafe.” I hadn’t really paid any attention to the cafe on my previous visits, as it wasn’t actually in the same area like it was in the games. It was more like an attached building that was sort of in the Pokecenter? There were windows looking in, and I could see a few people in there.
“Ah! Right.” She cleared her throat, her face a bit red. “It’s been a while since I’ve blathered on like that… I’ll have your Audino bring your pokeballs to you when we’re finished.”
“Thank you,” I said with a smile as she turned away and retreated through the back door, quickly followed by Dee.
As I walked into the cafe I was immediately hit with the smell of coffee. As far as I could see, no one even looked up from whatever they were doing. Some were reading, some on their phone, and a couple people were talking quietly. The exception to this was the man behind the counter who gave me a big smile. “Alola! What can I get for ya?”
“Alola.” I was about to order a coffee, but that was a slippery slope I didn’t want to fall down. Coffee addiction was dangerous and expensive, and I didn’t want to get hooked again. Glancing over the menu for a moment I made a better decision. “Tapu Cocoa in the large size, please.”
“Sure, sure, sure,” he said before turning around and beginning the prep. After a moment he looked back over his shoulder. “I saw you in the Pokecenter yesterday, talking to those Team Skull kids.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
He looked at me for a moment longer before turning back to what he was doing. “I dunno what you said to ‘em, but Nurse Joy seemed pretty pleased.”
With a sigh, I shrugged a bit. “They’re just kids. Sometimes all it takes is talking to them like they’re a real person.”
I could see the way his brow furrowed a bit in the reflection of the machine in front of him. After a moment of thought he gave a bit of a nod. “Yeah I s’pose that’s true.” He gave a short laugh before turning around and placing the disposable cup down.
I pulled my ID card out of my bag and tapped it on the little machine. It was interesting how most places used a sort of tap pay system. Although I had yet to find a place that only used physical money. After it gave a soft beep noise, I put away my card and grabbed the drink. “Thanks. Alola.”
He gave me a smile. “Lemme know if you want anything else. Alola.” He turned away to go back to some other task, cleaning most likely.
Looking around the room, I found an open booth that looked out over the water. I could see a few of the pokeboat houses, particularly one that looked like a Magikarp. The Tapu Cocoa was pretty good, though it was missing something. Whipped cream? Yeah, whipped cream.
It wasn’t long before the door flew open with a bang, startling several other patrons. Standing in the doorway was Dee with a tray of pokeballs and wearing Eevee as though she were a hat. She scanned the room a moment before she spotted me and happily waddled over. “All done,” she said as she put the tray on the table.
I chuckled a bit as I started to put the pokeballs back into my coat. “Thanks. Anything to worry about?”
“Rio needs more rest,” she said bluntly. “Mikyu is upset at the damage to her costume, and wants to work on that. Other than that, everyone is okay.” As she spoke, I watched the way she took occasional curious glances at what I was drinking.
“Good, good.” I picked up the cup and held it out to her. “Want to try? It’s a milk and chocolate drink.”
She tilted her head a bit and took the cup. When she did, I reached over and took Eevee off of her head, putting her back in my hood. She took a few hesitant sips, a rather confused look on her face. “It’s a bit weird, but it’s not bad.”
I nodded a bit as I got up from the table. “That’s what I thought. Needs whipped cream.”
We walked out as Dee continued to sip at the drink. “Whipped cream? Like for pies?”
“Yeah. Or marshmallows. Or maybe both.” I was trying to think about how to make them. Whipped cream was pretty easy, and I vaguely remembered that marshmallows were basically just sugar, water, and gelatin.
“Marshmallows? You would put marshmallows in this? Wouldn’t that make it too sweet?” Dee looked around a moment before waddling over to a garbage can to dispose of the cup.
I followed her absentmindedly. “I don’t think it does. But maybe I just like sweet things more than you,” I said as I rubbed the top of her head.
She just huffed at me before opening my coat and disappearing into her pokeball.
I couldn’t help but laugh. It was really good to see that she seemed to be recovering quite well mentally. Pokemon seemed rather strong both physically and mentally. I wondered how Pokemon psychology would work?
Walking back out to where Hapu had said to set up camp, all of the Pokemon jumped out and immediately started to set up camp after getting their afternoon pokeblock. “Go light on the training,” I called out with a laugh, knowing exactly what most of them were thinking. “Especially you, Rio!” I knelt down a bit. “And here, Mikyu.” I gave my bag to the little Pokemon after retrieving my cell phone. “Set up a good spot inside the tent where you can work on your costume without anyone seeing you.”
She nodded, her head flopping in an extremely exaggerated manner due to the broken neck. It actually made me wince a bit because it looked really bad. Like it was so bad I thought it might actually fall off. But it didn’t seem to bother her as she immediately retreated into the tent with my bag and began setting up a little area inside.
Before I could even turn around there was an explosion. “Rio, I said take it easy!” I didn’t even have to turn around to recognize the noise of her fighting with Scoly and the others. When I turned around, everyone did their best to look like they weren’t doing anything. “It’s either light training now, or several weeks of no training when you hurt yourself.”
Rio’s face scrunched up before she nodded. “Okay…”
I nodded as I turned my attention to my phone. The first thing I did was send a message to Professor Juniper. I asked her if she had ever heard of someone being referred to as a Bridge. Before I sent it I realized that I would need to be more specific, so I elaborated saying that an extremely powerful Pokemon referred to me as a Bridge and I wanted to know if any of the other transmigrators, or any other historical events of someone being called that.
I also asked her if she had ever heard of something that a Pokemon would call the Earth Mother. This question was also something I sent to Oak, Kukui, and Sycamore. If any of them knew, it would probably be Juniper or Oak, but I wanted to spread a wide net. Then I had a thought and hesitated. I sat for a moment before I sighed and sent the same question to Professor Sada.
It was an hour of watching the Pokemon train, Rio being rather restricted by Dee, before I got a call from Oak. That was interesting. “Alola, Professor,” I said with a smile as I answered.
“Alola? Are you on vacation?” The familiar face had appeared on the screen, and he had a bit of a puzzled expression.
I chuckled a bit. “Not quite. But sort of?” I waved a hand vaguely.
He just chuckled as well. “Are you planning to stop by Kanto on your way back to Kalos?”
That was an option. I rubbed my chin a bit as I thought. “No. I wouldn’t be able to spend much time there, and I would rather have a lot of time there when I visit.” I had a league to prepare for.
“Understandable.”
“I assume you calling means you have some information on this Earth Mother?” I asked, glancing over at the Pokemon to help Dee keep an eye on things since Rio was taking much of her focus.
“It’s a term that I have heard before. Celebi said it, but only in passing. It stuck with me because I remember being confused. Where did you hear it from?”
I frowned a bit. That wasn’t helpful… “One of the Totem Pokemon here on the island referred to them. They had called me the Bridge, and when I asked why they called me that, they claimed they heard it from someone called the Earth Mother.”
He rubbed his chin a bit. “Interesting. What sort of bridge?”
“I had the same thought,” I said with a short laugh. “My immediate assumption was a bridge between worlds, but their evasiveness to my questions and the way they said that the Earth Mother would reveal it in time leads me to believe that this bridge purpose hasn’t been fulfilled.”
“That is very interesting…” We talked for a bit longer, after I explained in more details the events and what led up to the odd discovery, we began to theory craft. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to give any insight that I hadn’t thought about already, but it was nice to know that he had a similar line of thinking.
Eventually he had to go. Even if no progress was made on figuring things out, it was really nice to talk to him. While I was familiar with other Professors, Oak was the one that I felt the most comfortable talking with. He had this sort of manner of speaking as if he saw you as an equal. Kukui was a lot like that as well. And while I tried to get along with Sycamore, there was something about him that rubbed me the wrong way. I just wasn’t sure what it was, but sometimes people just don’t mesh, so it might just be that.
No one else contacted me for the rest of the day, and as it started to get late I moved into the tent to get my bag back. All of the cooking tools were still in there, so I needed it. I had to be very careful, and announced my presence before looking anywhere, “Mikyu? I need my bag to start preparing dinner.”
There was silence as I slowly started to look around. Eventually I spotted my bag and headed towards it. It was beside a pile of things and cloth. It took me a moment before I realized the thing in the center was a sort of makeshift tent within the tent, one that wiggled every now and then, or had a shadowy hand reach out of to grasp at something piled around the tent.
I knelt down a bit to get my bag, making sure to not look at the tent before I spoke again, “Mikyu, I’m going to start prepping dinner.”
The tent stopped moving for a moment, before a shadow hand came out and gave me a thumbs up.
I let out a bit of a snort as I stood back up. “Start wrapping up for the night so we can eat and go to bed.”
“Can…can I work more… tonight?” came her voice from the tent.
I looked over, spotting a slight slit in the tent that had opened to reveal what I could only guess was an eye. “That’s fine,” I said with a nod. “You can keep working until we pack up camp. But you have to pause for a bit to come and eat.”
There was a few seconds of silence before the tent began to shudder and Mikyu came out shortly after. Her costume was still in rough shape. “O-okay.”
I slung my bag over my shoulder before reaching down and picking her up. Looking over her costume it looked like she was making a new one rather than repairing the one she had. She leaned against me as I walked back out.
Just as I did, I watched as a streak of blue was sent flying and smashed into a nearby wall. It took a moment before Rio pulled herself up out of the debris of the now more ruined ruin wall. She shook her head, before spotting me staring at her. “Uh… They started it?” she said, pointing.
Turning to the rest, I saw Scoly, Primarina, Cara, and Dee immediately turn away and try to do something else. “Scoly and Primarina I understand… But you two as well?”
“We were being careful,” Dee said after a moment.
My attention turned to her. This was a very unexpected thing to see coming from Dee. I opened my mouth to say something before there was another explosion. Slowly I looked over at the other battling group, consisting of Keo, Diancie, and much to my surprise, Banette. For a moment I wondered where Goomy was, but before I could ask she hit the ground.
Apparently the explosion had launched her into the air. I was actually rather impressed that she had landed so well, and was trying to pretend that nothing happened. That was way too much for me and I just started laughing. It took a bit before I managed to calm down enough to actually get a word out. “Okay. Clearly all of you are bored. I get that. But can you not fling each other around so much?”
I shook my head, still laughing a bit as I started to pull out my cooking supplies. Thankfully performing that action really caused everyone to shift gears. Mikyu began helping me prep, and Banette and Dee both came over to assist. I asked Primarina for water, since we didn’t have a source nearby. It was super convenient that Pokemon could turn water energy into actual water. The water itself wasn’t actually coming from inside her, but instead the energy was turning into water as it left her. It was an interesting process.
Once everyone had their food, they all seemed to settle down. A big warm meal was a good way to end the day and really calm them all down. And a pokeblock on top of that really filled them up. Once all the dishes were clean and put away, all of us went into the tent. Mikyu ran to her little makeshift pile to continue her work, while I prepared the bedding. She was really excited.
As I laid down I was almost immediately flopped onto by a large seal, causing me to let out a rather substantial, “Oof.”
Primarina paused and then giggled as she rolled off. “Oops. I’m too big now.”
I coughed a bit, having a feeling she had done that on purpose. But her new size did change our sleeping arrangements a bit. Though the only thing that really changed is now Primarina was laying on top of Scoly with her head on my chest. And this night there was no Mikyu on my stomach.
~
The morning felt a bit weird, as I was actually the last one up. Or it would be better to say that all of the Pokemon getting up woke me up. Watching them all stand and stretch, following Cara and Dee’s routine caused me to laugh a bit. “Everyone’s really excited for the day, huh?”
“It’s hard to sleep after yesterday,” Cara said, and everyone seemed to agree.
I nodded a bit as I got up, stretching a bit. “Right.” I looked at them all for a moment. “Dee.”
She flinched. “Y-yes?”
“You’re going to be fighting first.” I sat down, gesturing for her to come over. “Depending on who Hapu sends out, I want you to do different things.”
She waddled over, slightly dragging her feet as if she was in trouble. “Right…”
This was going to be the first time that she fought together with me, and I wanted her to know what to expect. “Hapu is a ground type Trainer. That means all of her Pokemon won’t be damaged by lightning energy, but will take more damage from ice, so focus on Ice punch.” It was the only ice energy move that she knew.
“Ice Punch…” she mumbled.
I looked at her for a moment before reaching out and grasping her hands. “You don’t have to fight,” I said softly. “But if you want to, I’m going to do everything I can to help you win. This is your choice, and always has been. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, or scared of.”
Her hands gripped mine as she took deep breaths. “Right… I… I want to fight. I can’t…” she hesitated, “I can’t protect anyone if I don’t fight…”
I rubbed the back of her hands with my thumbs. “I just want you to know that nothing is going to change with us. Win or lose. If you fight, or if you don’t. You’re part of this family.”
There was a bit of moisture collecting in her eyes, but she nodded. “I want to fight.”
“Okay.” I held her hands for a moment longer before letting them go. “Anytime you have space, if they back away, or if you knock them away, heal yourself. You’re a tank, so your biggest advantage is going to be staying up and outlasting any Pokemon she sends out. If she uses her Golurk, the big metal armor, don’t use normal type energy.”
She nodded slowly. “Don’t use normal energy on the Golurk…”
I smiled a bit before standing up. “Just try and have fun with it. If at any time you want to back out, just tell me and I’ll return you without hesitation.”
Again she nodded, though this time seemed a bit more stern. “I won’t back down.”
“Good.” I rubbed the top of her head. “Now, c’mon. Let’s go find Hapu.”
However, that was unnecessary. The moment I stepped out of my tent I could see the miniature Kahuna standing in the battle field not too far away. But that wasn’t what really surprised me. That award went to the crowd.
I hesitated a moment before I started to head over. Dee froze the moment she was out, and it took Rio and Cara pushing her along to get her to actually follow. Honestly I couldn’t blame her, as there were a lot of people. I could even see a Nurse Joy and a Comfey, probably here to assist in case of worst case scenarios.
When I spotted Kukui, I made a beeline straight for him. “Even you’re here?” I asked, glancing around. A lot of folks were just chatting to each other.
“I’ve missed every other battle you’ve been in, I’m not gonna miss another,” he said with a rather large smile.
“Okay…but what’s with everyone else?” I gestured around to the crowd.
“It’s a Grand Trial,” he said as if that would explain everything. I just stared at him, waiting for him to continue. He cleared his throat. “Well there hasn’t been one in a few months, and with you being a foreigner, people are interested.”
I took a moment to look at him and then sighed. “Alright. But…you might want to have everyone back up a bit more,” I said as I continued my way forward. “They’re too close to the arena.”
In fact there were even some people in it, talking with Hapu. I saw the one I had battled yesterday, I think Hapu said his name was Eric? Either way, if he was giving her pointers about my Pokemon she was going to get nothing but a bunch of useless information.
Taking my spot opposite her, the murmuring of the crowd started to die down, which is when I started to hear the cacophony of crows. Glancing over, I could see the flock of Murkrow all chattering away on the ruins of a building nearby. Espurr was there as well, staring at me.
Looking back at my group of Pokemon I gestured to Dee. “C’mere Dee.” She hesitated a moment before coming over as I reached into my bag and pulled out the remote. It took a few seconds of fiddling with it before finally turning it off.
She seemed to immediately stand up more, blinking a bit in surprise. “Oh…” She looked down at her hands with a complex expression on her face.
As she adjusted, I reached out, pulling the few little cord-like straps off of her. “You’ll do wonderfully,” I said as I tucked the things into my bag.
All she did was nod, remaining quiet as she continued to look at her hands.
Slowly I turned my attention back to the arena and Hapu at the other end. “You ready?” I called out, a bit of a smirk on my face. “Or do you need a few more minutes to talk strategy?”
That seemed to be enough to mostly silence the crowd as everyone who wasn’t already looking in my direction, turned to look at me and my group of Pokemon. I saw her make a slight tsk motion with her mouth, but I was too far away to hear the actual noise. “There’s nothing to talk about. I’ve been ready since yesterday,” was her response.
I nodded, smiling as I pat Dee on the shoulder. She took that as her cue to move forward into the arena. There was a bit of mumbling, some people confused at my choice. It was no secret that this Audino was a trained nurse Pokemon. Looking over at Nurse Joy, she had a concerned look on her face. I was certain she was watching what I was doing, and had noticed that Dee had the weight harness. I just gave her a thumbs up before focusing ahead.
Suddenly a man pushed his way through the crowd, the same man that had refereed the battle between Mara and I. “This is an official Grand Trial battle between Kahuna Hapu, and the Pokemon Expert Jason,” he announced, pointing out both sides. As he spoke all conversations seemed to stop. “Three versus three. No swaps. Any Pokemon that is returned will be considered knocked out. Kahuna, are you ready?”
Hapu threw out a pokeball, releasing the large suit of armor that was her Golurk. “Ready!” She called out, a rather large smile on her face. Most people knew that Audino was a normal type, so she was sending out her ghost type. Or she always led with the Golurk, it was rather hard to say.
“Challenger, are you ready?” He pointed towards me with his hand.
I shuffled in place for a moment as I fiddled with my bag, pulling out my phone and setting it to record before putting it into my bags slot. “Ready,” I responded with a nod.
“Begin!”
“No mercy, Golurk!” Hapu called.
Immediately the massive Pokemon rushed forward, surprising me with just how fast it was. It was hard to not be surprised by something that large moving fast. Orange energy burst from its fist as it raised it upwards. It was a move I’d seen before, Hammer Arm.
However I could see that Dee wasn’t moving, just staring up at the Pokemon that was three times her size. I frowned a bit as I realized what was happening. She locked up. “Dee,” I said, which caused her to flinch and seemingly realize where she was.
Her arms went up to block the blow as it came roaring down, the speed and force actually making noise through the air. The resulting force caused Dee to sink slightly into the dirt arena, and several people in the crowd gasped. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nurse Joy put a hand over her mouth.
A moment passed before I saw Dee look around a bit, a confused expression on her face. In a rather nonchalant manner, she pushed the Golurk’s fist to the side so that she could look up at him. “Was… was that it?” Dee asked, looking back at me, and then back at the Golurk. I could see the clear bruise marks on her arms, but they were already starting to fade as she healed herself. “Uhm… you don’t need to hold back,” she offered.
There was a beat of silence that covered the area before I doubled over laughing. I was laughing so hard that I nearly fell over. It actually started to hurt and I clutched my stomach. No one else seemed to understand my amusement, but that was to be expected since no one else knew what Dee had said.
Golurk looked down at Dee for a moment, and then back at Hapu, clearly unsure what to do.
Hapu seemed pretty confused as well, looking at the Pokemon and then over at me as I was trying to catch my breath and stop laughing. I actually started coughing, choking on my own breath as I tried to settle. Cara was quick to come and pat my back.
Now everyone was looking at me rather than the Pokemon. I managed to calm down after a moment, taking a deep breath. “Dee… They didn’t hold back,” I said as I wiped the tears from my eyes.
The poor pink Pokemon just looked even more confused. “But… but that was like getting hit by Rio… Shouldn’t he be stronger?”
I saw the way Rio puffed up a bit out of the corner of my eye, but I shook my head. “I told you that you’re much stronger than you think. Maybe now you’ll believe me.”
Before she had a chance to answer, she was suddenly struck again. This time the Golurk had taken a moment to charge the attack, using her distracted position to use Focus Punch.
The massive fist connected with Dee’s torso, causing her to slide a few feet back, but she remained on her feet. She hadn’t even broken eye contact with me when she was hit. But now her attention turned back to her opponent. “Ow,” she said as she rubbed her chest.
Golurk got into a fighting pose, preparing to strike again. I watched as Dee’s hands slowly clenched, light blue energy being formed around them and little ice crystals forming in the air. Suddenly she launched herself forward, with a force that surprised everyone, including herself as she slammed into the massive suit of armor.
I should have taken the weight device off of her earlier so she could get used to the change. Thankfully she had the mind to put her hands forward, though that seemed to be more instinct to try not to crash than anything with purpose. It did cause the large Pokemon to stagger back a step, two icy fist imprints on its chest.
Even from this distance I could tell that it had hardly done any damage, but that was to be expected. Dee hardly used this move, and she wasn’t used to attacking aside from throwing things. Even the Golurk realized that it hadn’t hurt very much, and so he stepped forward and delivered another Hammer Arm.
Dee took the blow with one arm this time, delivering another Ice Punch with the other. And the Golurk retaliated with another fighting energy invigorated punch, which Dee took and then countered with her own ice energy punch.
Blow after blow was exchanged, like they were taking turns hitting each other. However, while every blow that hit the Golurk built up, the bruises and marks on Dee slowly faded away like they were never there. The crowd seemed to wince at the sound of every blow, the ring of ice on metal, followed by the heavy thud of metal on something meaty.
It was nearly a full minute of this before something finally changed. Dee went to throw another punch and hit nothing but air as the Golurk disappeared in red light. Hapu was frowning, clearly having not expected that when she had seen Dee.
“Kahuna, please send out your next Pokemon,” the referee called.
Even as she reached for her next pokeball, everyone could see the bruises that Dee still had slowly fading. She had honestly gotten scary good with healing, and since she didn’t know any other psychic type moves, all of that energy would be used on healing.
It was clear that Hapu was hesitating, most likely trying to work out how to knock out this Pokemon. I tried to think of how I would do it as well, putting myself in her position and thinking about her Pokemon. Her Gastrodon would be the worst option. Flygon would be her best choice. Drag the fight out, keep range, use the fact that they can fly for the increased maneuverability. Dee had proven that a full on physical confrontation was bad, so she would have to drag out the fight and wear down her energy reserves.
The ball was thrown and all my theory crafting was tossed out the window as a large quadrupedal brown horse with a black and orange mane appeared. That choice confused me a bit, until I saw her take a stance. Oh, yeah I suppose that was also an option. Z-Move and hope to blitz her down with a hard enough blow that she won’t be able to recover fast enough.
When she hit the final movement, her hand on the ground, her Z-Ring burst with energy that rushed at the Mudsdale. It reared back, and both the horse and Hapu shouted, “Tectonic Rage!” Their hooves slammed into the ground and the earth split open.
Dee let out a yelp as the ground beneath her suddenly vanished and she started to fall. Before she had the chance to realize what was happening, Mudsdale rushed into the newly made fissure, its body glowing with the intense power of the move. It crashed into her and there was an explosion as the earth suddenly collapsed and exploded into what looked like a miniature volcanic eruption that launched Dee into the air.
It soon settled back into the arena as the Mudsdale leapt back away before Dee hit the ground. She hit really hard. Hard enough that I wondered if she could get up, as I held her pokeball and considered returning her now. But she did get up. She looked really rough, covered in bruises and mud. I was about to call out to her and ask if she wanted to keep going, until I saw her expression.
She was pissed.
The Mudsdale was huffing slightly, staring at the pink Pokemon that was now angrily stomping towards them. It lowered its head and charged, igniting the brown ground energy as it tried to Bulldoze into her.
Dee put up her hands, grabbing hold of their head as they slid back several feet. Eventually the struggling Mudsdale couldn’t push her any further, its hooves digging into the dirt as it tried to move her. But she was having none of it. She brought her face close to the equines. “I. Am. Covered. In. Mud,” she snarled through gritted teeth.
It was at that moment, as its hooves left the ground, that it realized it made a mistake. Everyone gaped as this little pink Pokemon lifted the horse off the ground by its mane. That was extremely impressive, considering Mudsdale was over two thousand pounds. I could actually see muscles bulge in Dee’s arms as well as white normal energy covering her arms.
And then, with hardly any ceremony, she twisted and slammed the horse into the ground. She had… She just chokeslammed a horse. I… really don’t know what to think about that. That was clearly a well executed wrestling move, but when did she learn that? There was also a large burst of normal aspected energy when she did it.
That was extremely interesting. Were wrestling moves normal type, and not fighting type? Or was this her channeling some other move in order to perform it? Maybe it was the fact that this was not an actual move so it was defaulting? This was going to require some testing.
My thoughts were broken as there was suddenly cheering from the crowd, the loudest being Kukui. Of course the luchador would be excited about wrestling. Or, wait, his focus of research was moves, wasn’t it? Maybe he was excited to see a new move.
Even with the cheering crowd, it was clear that Dee wasn’t done. As before the Mudsdale had a chance to recover from just having its world flipped, she picked it up again, holding it over her head. “Uh… can we talk about this?” the horse tried to reason with her as it struggled.
But Dee was having none of it.
I made a mental note that the pink Pokemon really did not like mud on her coat. In the past I had noticed her making quite the effort to keep herself clean, but this reaction was to a degree I had not expected.
Her arms were still coated in the soft pulsing white of normal type energy, clearly using it to be able to lift the Mudsdale. With a twist, she brought it around, now holding it around its lower waist and then… Suplexing it into the ground with another burst of normal energy.
Did she watch wrestling? Was that a thing? Clearly it had to be, since luchadores were a thing. I would have to ask Kukui about it.
Dee rolled over and to the side, getting up and spreading her arms as she was about to go in for another grab. However, before she could, the Mudsdale disappeared into red light. Her arms closed around nothing and her gaze snapped over to Hapu, causing her to flinch.
I could see that Dee was out of breath, the exertion had clearly exhausted her. But I mean, who could blame her? She had just tossed around a horse nearly three times her size, weighing nearly thirty times her own weight.
“Dee?” Her head snapped back towards me, softening slightly when she saw that it was me speaking. “Are you okay to keep going?”
She took a moment before sagging slightly and shaking her head.
I nodded a bit and gestured for her to come over. “She’s withdrawing,” I said to the referee who nodded in response.
I watched as Dee walked past me, sitting down and then almost immediately flopping onto her back, utterly exhausted. She hadn’t healed herself very much after taking the Z-Move, having apparently run out of psychic energy. Hapu’s technique had worked, however Dee had also managed to take out the Mudsdale before she was done.
If Dee hadn’t gotten so mad and used unconventional tactics, I don’t think she would have been able to beat the Mudsdale. Or if she had, it would have been a much closer fight.
I turned my attention back towards Hapu, who had a rather sour expression on her face. As we both looked at each other, I could tell we were both thinking whether we should continue or not. This was a one on two fight, and I had an ice type Pokemon, as well as a Primarina that was good at ice moves. Mudsdale was her ace as far as I knew.
With a sigh, she just nodded in response to my unasked question. “Yeah. I think we’re done. I surrender.”
I nodded and smiled. “That was a good fight.”
The referee shot up a hand to point towards me. “Kahuna Hapu has surrendered. The winner is Pokemon Expert Jason!”
There was immediate cheering and I watched as Nurse Joy quickly rushed over. For a moment I thought she was coming to scold me, but she completely ignored me as she went straight for Dee, who was still panting on the ground. “Oh dear… that was really rough…” Joy mumbled to Dee, and Comfey began to look her over and clean her up with Primarina’s help.
I had just stopped the recording on my phone when there was a voice to my side. “That was a good fight,” Hapu said, having walked over.
I turned to her and nodded, holding out a hand. “A very good fight.”
She hesitated before pulling out the Groundium crystal.
I blinked. “Ah- No, I wanted to shake your hand,” I said with a bit of a laugh.
Her brow furrowed a bit before her cheeks went a bit red. “Oh. Uh…right.” She reached up and shook my hand.
The crystal had completely escaped my mind. It wasn’t really high on my priority list, but when she offered it to me again after the handshake, I accepted it. “Thank you.” I attached it to the bracelet. Looking at the six crystals. I opened my mouth to say something, but was cut off as Kukui threw an arm over my shoulder.
“Now that was a battle!” he said with a laugh. “Your Audino is incredibly strong.”
“I don’t think Mudsdale has ever been tossed around like that,” Hapu agreed, a bit of a frown on her face.
“This is what I was talking about,” Kukui said with a smile. “There’s just something about people from places that have Leagues that make them ridiculously strong.” He shook me a bit for emphasis. “Right Jace? Those battles are crazy.”
I looked at him for a moment out of the corner of my eye, but I nodded. “From what I’ve seen, yeah. While I don’t think the average League Trainer is on the same level… One of the Elite Four’s Pokemon could probably one on one, or two on one a Totem.”
That caused both of them to stiffen a bit. It had been something I was comparing in the fight against Durn. And I was fairly confident that that was what level they were at. And that was the level that I had to get to.
“They’re that strong?” Hapu asked softly.
I nodded. “I’ve no idea how strong the Champion is, but from my battle with Durn I’m pretty sure that some of the Elite Four’s Pokemon are at that level, or close to it.”
There was a moment of silence before Kukui nodded. “Yeah. They are really strong. That’s why we need a League here, so that we can get Trainers up to that level.”
I wasn’t sure exactly how the two were related, but I suppose it was similar to moving the goal post. If the Grand Trails were the current goal, then it would make sense that if you moved it and made it more difficult, you’d get stronger Trainers. “I guess,” Hapu said with a shrug. She turned away, waving. “I’m going home. Alola.”
A soft snort escaped me. “Alola.”
“Alola,” Kukui said with a laugh. “Alright. You have anything else to do on the island?”
I shook my head. “Nah. Let's head back to Melemele.”
~
I was immediately regretting my decision to get on the boat with Kukui. I was honestly thinking about learning how to drive a boat just so that I never have to be a passenger when this man drives. At least Eevee was enjoying herself, loving the rush of the wind.
“So, about your text,” he said after a bit of driving. “Where did you hear about the Earth Mother?”
“Durn mentioned it,” I said, looking at him. I had no reason to be suspicious of Kukui, but it was obvious that he had waited until we were alone to bring it up.
He was silent for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, that makes sense. That’s something that the Kahuna are told about, so it makes sense that Totems would know about Her.”
“What do you know?” I asked, trying to focus on the conversation and distract myself from getting sick.
“Not much. She’s apparently extremely powerful, and the Totems hold high respect for Her. Part of the ceremony to become a Kahuna is asking for permission from the Earth Mother.”
“So She’s above the Tapu?” I asked.
He just shrugged. “I guess so? They won’t tell us anything about Her.”
That wasn’t a lot of new information, but it was interesting to know that she seemed to be above the Tapu in hierarchy. “Has anyone ever asked the Tapu what they think of Arceus?”
His head tilted back a bit as he looked up at the sky, apparently attempting to recall something. “Not that I know of.”
“That would probably be a good place to start, then,” I said with a nod. “Sort of get a gauge of if they think better or worse of Arceus in comparison to the Earth Mother.”
I barely heard let out a snort. “You make it sound so easy to talk to the Tapu.”
“Well… I’ll have to ask myself when I come back after winning the League,” I said with a bit of a laugh.
He just shook his head, chuckling. “You think you can do it?”
“I think so,” I said, reaching up and petting Eevee. She leaned into my hand, and rubbed her face against it.
The rest of the trip went by rather quickly, since Kukui drove the boat like he was some kind of action movie star. I tried to ask him about wrestling, but he seemed to purposefully avoid the subject. Probably trying to make sure there wasn’t a connection to him and his wrestling alter ego. He did mention that he was very impressed with Dee’s moves.
I also asked him where all the saddles were produced for the Ride Pokemon. Since I’d forgotten to ask Hapu about it, Kukui was my next best option. He mentioned there was a place in Hau’oli City, and gave me a general area for it.
Stepping off the boat, I was extremely glad. Burnet was there, frowning at Kukui. “If you were going to pick up Jace, you should have mentioned it instead of disappearing.”
He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry.”
My eyebrow arched upward before realizing that he wasn’t going to mention the actual reason. “Pick me up? I thought you just wanted to watch my Grand Trial?”
He flinched, looking at me with an absolutely betrayed expression. “How could you…” he muttered.
“You what?” she snapped, her hands clenching. “You ditched me to go watch his Grand Trial? You didn’t think that I might want to watch, too?”
“I… I only got the text in the morning, and you were out,” he tried to explain. “I wasn’t sure when the Trial would be, or when you would be back.”
She glared at him for a moment longer. “This conversation isn’t over.” She turned to me, her expression softening. “So how was the Grand Trial?”
“Pretty good.” I held up my arm to show the Z-Ring, and pointed out the Groundium. “It was a good fight, and helped Dee feel more confident about fighting.”
“Yeah, that Audino is extremely strong, and tough,” Kukui said with a nod, folding his arms.
“She still needs work on her attacks, but she can take a lot of hits,” I said, also nodding.
“Ugh.” Burnet folded her arms. “I wish I had seen.”
I smiled a bit as I pulled out my phone. “I recorded it, if you want to watch.”
All three of us spent the next few minutes watching the fight. We had to pause a few times because they asked me what she was saying, and I translated it. Kukui laughed that it was the mud she’d gotten mad at, but Burnet just agreed that that would have pissed her off, too.
“So when do you plan to return to Kalos?” Kukui asked as we were walking through the research center.
I shrugged. “Have to look at ticket prices. If I can afford it right now, I’ll leave tomorrow. If I can’t, then I’ll stay till the end of the month.”
“Those tickets are rather expensive…”
I nodded. “Thankfully the Association pays me a lot,” I said with a chuckle. “Though a lot of that just goes right into the Pokemon.”
He laughed. “Having that many must be costly.”
“It would be so much more if I didn’t make food and pokeblocks myself… I definitely wouldn’t be able to afford it.”
He seemed to agree with that, and we parted ways with an exchange of Alolas. I didn’t know what he was busy with, but I had plans for the rest of my day.
After letting Scoly out, I rode towards the city. My first stop was the airport, to inquire about how much a ticket to Kalos would cost. Thankfully it was cheaper, only thirty thousand. I bought a ticket for the next day, which left at three in the afternoon, and then went off in search of the saddle place.
It took a while, and I had to ask quite a few people to find the right place. The building didn’t have a sign, and it actually looked more like a residence than a shop. But when I got close there was actually a small sign placed in the window that read ‘Pokesaddle’ so this had to be it.
Knocking on the door, it took a moment before the door opened. There was a hunched older man, balding, with glasses the size of saucers. “Can I help you?” he asked, clearly annoyed but trying to remain civil.
“Yes, Professor Kukui said that I could have a saddle made here?” I explained, doing my best to be polite.
“We don’t take walk-ins,” he scoffed and shut the door.
I stared at the closed door for a moment, blinking. I looked back at Scoly, who looked annoyed, then I looked down at myself. After the whole restaurant debacle, I had done a bit more than I normally did to clean up and look presentable. Did I still look that bad? I would agree I probably wouldn’t try going to one of the restaurants like this, but I looked at least good enough for a casual day at work.
With a shrug I walked away. It’s not like I really needed a saddle. “Maybe we can have Mikyu make something?” I suggested as I climbed up onto Scoly.
Scoly made a sort of shrugging gesture as best as she could. “I dunno? Why do you even need a saddle?”
“It’s so that you can go faster without me falling off,” I said with a chuckle as I pulled out Mikyu’s pokeball. “Let’s head back to the beach.” Scoly nodded and began walking quickly.
The little ghost had been rather upset that she had to stop working so we could pack up camp and head out. Her new costume still wasn’t done. When I released her onto Scoly’s back, it was clear she was still upset, and she just sort of turned away from me with a huff.
I laughed softly as I picked her up and hugged her. “Why are you so mad, hm? You can work more when we set up camp.”
Again she huffed, wiggling a bit to make it look like she was making an effort to escape my grasp, though it was clear she wasn’t committed to it.
“Do you think, when you’re done with your costume and Banette’s coat, you could make a saddle?” I asked, gently petting her.
Her head flopped from side to side with an extremely exaggerated motion, since the neck was still broken. “I think so? I would need special materials, but yeah?”
I smiled and pet her more. “Thank you. You’re such a skilled little thing.”
She wiggled a bit more and then settled down into my lap for the rest of the ride. We went back to the beach that we’d been staying at, and everyone happily jumped out and began setting up camp. Alma wasn’t there, which was a shame. I would have liked to see him again and say goodbye. If he didn’t come by, I wouldn’t be seeing him again.
Everyone got their afternoon pokeblock before we started to set up camp. Once that was done, Mikyu grabbed hold of my bag, wanting to get back to her work. I had to fight her a moment to get my phone out before she disappeared into the tent. Everyone just seemed amused at the interaction, not helping at all since everything they wanted was already outside.
I let out a soft sigh, shaking my head as I moved over and sat down on one of the blankets that was set up. It was a nice view, which would have been perfect if not for the immediate ruckus that commenced as several of them began training.
Reaching back, I checked on Eevee. It was honestly amazing that she slept so much, but it was good to know that it wasn’t anything bad and was helping her. I then turned my attention to my phone. Professor Juniper had messaged me back saying that she would check, while Sycamore apologized that he’d not heard of them. Sada hadn’t responded.
The other messages I had were from my liaison. I hadn’t even opened the little chat, and when I did I had quite a number of messages. However the last one was two days ago, and all it said was to let her know when I would be returning, and that when I did return the Association wanted to see the new Pokemon as well as assess the others in my group.
That sounded like it was going to be annoying. I was probably going to have to answer a lot of questions about things. And of course they would complain, and demand I give them more information on Totem Pokemon and the Trials. But I guess it is my job to help them out with things. So I sent her a text saying that I would be flying back tomorrow at three in the afternoon, Alola time.
That was something else I was curious about, the time difference. I honestly had no idea what time it was in Kalos, but I guess it also didn’t matter. I did hope that my message hadn’t woken her up. She was very considerate of that towards me, so the least I could do is try and do the same. It was too late now, though, since I’d already sent the message.
Before I could even think about sending an apology if I had woken her up, I received a reply saying she would prepare for my arrival and inform the Director. I had to think for a moment, trying to remember if I knew who that was. Maybe the old man that I had seen a few times? That was probably him. He had never introduced himself. Then again, I hadn’t introduced myself either.
Maybe I was just a bit too wound up from everything that happened… This trip to Alola had at least calmed me down in a good way. I felt like I could think a little more clearly. Maybe being thrown here was a bit more traumatic than I’m letting myself feel.
There was a splash and I looked over to see the large figure of Alma coming out of the water. “Ah, I thought I heard something.” He moved over and laid down near where I was sitting. “It is good to see you.”
I smiled a bit and nodded. “The feeling is mutual. I was hoping to see you before I left.”
His head tilted a bit to the side. “You are leaving already?”
Again I nodded. “Tapu Koko gave me a Trial, and in order to accomplish it I have to go back to Kalos.”
He had a thoughtful look on his face before he nodded. “I see. Then this will be our final meeting,” he said as he shifted, finding a more comfortable position. “That is unfortunate, I would have liked to converse more with you, and watch your family.”
I looked over at the training Pokemon. “Yeah.”
We fell into silence as we watched the training. “I am quite glad that you came to see me,” he said after a few minutes. “If you had not, I would have simply passed alone in that cave.”
That didn’t sound like a very pleasant thing. But I had a question. “What happens to a Pokemon when they die?”
“We return to the Earth Mother, and She judges what is to happen to us,” he explained, glancing at me before looking forward again. “Reincarnation is common, and I hope that I will be allowed to do so.”
“Is there an afterlife?” I asked, curious that Alma seemed quite knowledgeable about this.
“There is. But She tells us nothing about it. Perhaps She will tell me when I see Her.” He had a rather thoughtful expression on his face, which turned into a smile. “I am looking forward to it.”
“I’m not allowed to ask about who the Earth Mother is, huh?” I asked, looking at Alma with a bit of a smile.
“She will connect with you if She sees it necessary,” he said with a rather low rumbly laugh. “But She is far more kind and proactive than Arceus.”
“From what little I know of Arceus, he’s a jerk.”
Alma let out a laugh, loud and rumbly that actually caused everyone training to stop. That gave me a rather large smile. “Indeed,” he said eventually after getting over his laughing fit. “He’s rather a piece of shit, all things considered.”
“If you see him, can you like… yell at him for me?” I asked, chuckling a bit. “Because he just dropped me without explanation in a forest and I nearly died. And now I’m finding out that I am… the Earth Mother called me a Bridge?” I looked up at him, hoping that he would give me some sort of hint.
His brow furrowed a bit. “I have not spoken to the Earth Mother in… a very long time… that is why I am looking forward to it. Hearing Her voice is…” He paused to think of the proper word. “Soothing.”
“That must be nice…” I said with a sigh and leaned back on my hands.
Again we fell into silence, simply watching. As the sun started to go down, he shifted. “I believe that this is farewell,” he said, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. “I have places that I wish to visit before my passing, and I shall not return to this place for many weeks.”
“I hope that you get what you want, and live a good next life,” I said as I sat up a bit, wanting to watch him go.
He laughed softly, and looked down at me for a moment. “Would it be selfish of me… to make a request of you?”
I shook my head. “If I can, I would like to help.”
There was a moment of hesitation. “If I am reincarnated as I wish, I will not remember this life. But I…” Again he hesitated, slowly turning away. “I would like to have a Trainer like you. Perhaps you… If the Earth Mother allows it.”
That actually caused quite a warm smile into my face. “If She allows it, then I would be happy to.”
He had a smile on his face as he leaned his head back. “That sounds like it would be nice…” he mumbled before turning and heading back out into the ocean.
I watched him leave, and continued to watch the ocean for a few moments after I could no longer see him. Reincarnation… I wonder if he will get a choice of what he comes back as? Probably not. But it sounded like this might not be the last time we meet. I wonder if I will know him on sight…
With a sigh, I got back up. Well, hopefully we meet again, even if he won’t remember me. That conversation really filled up my head with a lot of complicated information. Something to think more on later. Right now, I have to prepare dinner for everyone.
To my surprise, everyone stopped training to help out. I guess everyone was really hungry? Either way, it all went by quickly with everyone's help, although a few of them, particularly Scoly and Diancie, caused more problems. But it was hard to get mad at them since they didn’t know. I just had to spend the time to teach them and show them how to do things. Diancie seemed particularly pleased when I held onto her hand to guide her movements.
With everyone’s encouragement, we ended up making a bit more food than normal. That was apparently their goal, as everyone wanted to eat extra. I was a bit surprised that everyone was eating a lot more than normal. When I tried asking them, Cara said, “It’s in preparation for tomorrow. That plane ride is going to be so long…” Scoly and Rio both agreed.
Which made sense I suppose. Though I wasn’t sure how gorging themselves would help with that. Either way, once everyone was fed, and the dishes and cooking stuff was put away we all moved into the tent. Mikyu rushed back to her makeshift pile again rather than joining us to sleep. I was wary of Primarina pulling another little prank and flopping at me, which got quite a grin from her. But she behaved.
Surprisingly, the one who didn’t was Goomy. She seemed frustrated about something and was instead pacing back and forth. “What’s wrong?” I asked softly, reaching out a hand to scoop her up when she got close.
“Why am I the weakest?” she complained. She had been struggling to join the battle training under Diancie’s Gravity, and it was starting to frustrate her.
“Mmm…” I pulled her over and placed her in her normal sleeping spot. “You’re getting there,” I said, patting her softly. “We’ll start doing more combat focused training, alright?” I had been rather lax in my training methods lately, since I was treating this like a vacation.
She sighed, her entire body sagging as she did. “Okay…”
“We’ll do more serious training once we’re back in Kalos to make sure that we’re good and prepared for the gym battles,” I said with a smile as I settled in.
Everyone seemed pleased about that, especially Rio and Keo. Those two were shaping up to be serious battlejunkies. Although even Diancie expressed her desire, “I want my Gravity to be stronger. It didn’t bother that big dragon at all…”
I chuckled a bit. “Alright, we can do that.”
Sleep came rather quickly, a bit quicker than normal. Usually I had a bit of trouble getting to sleep, but not tonight. Maybe I should ask Primarina if she would sing me to sleep? That sounded nice.
In the morning, we followed our normal routine until lunch time. After everyone got a pokeblock, I returned everyone aside from Scoly and Eevee. I went into the research center to find Kukui and Burnet to give them one last Alola before heading to the airport. I took a longer route so that I could pass by the back side of the restaurant to see if I could see the Skeledirge. When I did spot him, he was sitting inside a small alcove, moving his flames upwards.
“Skeld,” I called out with a smile.
His eyes opened and he looked at me for a moment. “Ah, you are the one from that time.”
I nodded, chuckling softly. “Yeah. Just wanted to say that I’m leaving Alola, so let that old man know I stopped by.”
That got a bit of a huff of laughter out of him. “Alright. I’ll let him know. Thanks to you I get to eat that tasty charcoal stuff.”
I smiled a bit before waving and then heading to the airport. Once there, I returned Eevee and Scoly. It was always a weird feeling to suddenly be alone. As I waited for my flight, I tried to keep an eye out, wondering if that Espurr would be on this plane as well. But I never saw them, and decided that it wasn’t really my concern.
As I boarded, I sent my Liaison another text saying that I was boarding and would be in Kalos in fourteen or so hours. She didn’t respond before I turned off my phone and put it into my bag. The flight honestly didn’t feel as miserable this time, but it still felt like it took forever. Maybe it didn’t feel as long this time because I slept most of it.
When we landed and I exited the plane I was immediately hit with how freaking cold it was. It was winter now, and there was even a light dusting of snow over everything. After I released Eevee and put her back into my hood I checked my phone. The Liaison had replied, saying that she would be at the airport. I grimaced slightly at the thought of seeing her, mostly because that meant we would be heading directly to the Association headquarters.
Chapter 14
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Goomy - Goomy - Full of dragon slug vibes
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart
Banette - Banette - Collected from the Supermart
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - Bread and butter Ice Beams
Chapter Text
From bad to worse.
The moment I spotted my liaison, that was all I could think. She wasn’t just standing there, waiting for me. Oh no. She had a huge sign that she was holding, with the words ‘Jason Over Here!’ written on it. I wondered if I could somehow slip past her, but before I could formulate a plan, she spotted me and began waving the sign. As if it was possible to not see her.
As I got closer, and was about to ask about the sign it suddenly began to melt, gaining a pink tinge to it before eventually becoming a sort of glop of silly putty on her shoulder that quickly retreated down the back of her jacket. “Alola,” she said with a smile. “Welcome back to Kalos.”
I was still reeling a bit from the sight of a Ditto. That was for sure not something I had expected in the slightest. But it would be rude to not respond. “Thank you. That was a Ditto, right?”
She nodded and reached into her jacket, practically dragging the thing out. “This is Pudd, short for Pudding.” The pink thing seemed very keen to return to the safety of the jacket. “Sorry, Pudd’s a little shy when they’re not transformed,” she said sheepishly as she gestured for us to start walking.
The little pink thing had finally managed to break free of her grasp and return to hiding in her coat as I followed. “It’s fine. I’m just surprised you have Pokemon,” I said with a shrug.
Her expression became puzzled and she gestured for me to follow her. “Of course I do?”
“Well, you just never mentioned them.” I gestured a bit at her. “And I’ve never seen them, or any pokeballs on you.”
Now she looked thoughtful, putting a finger to her chin. “I’ve never talked about them before?”
“Nor mentioned them.”
She frowned a bit. “Huh. I was sure they came up at some point.”
I shook my head. “Nope. You only ever talk about the Association.”
Her brow furrowed as she frowned a bit more. “That doesn’t sound right…” she mumbled.
At this point we got to the car, and both of us got into the back. “What other Pokemon do you have?” I asked as I settled into the seat.
She tapped the window separating us from the driver, and I noted there was only one person up front today. “Oh, just Pudd and Kit, my Delcatty. She’s at home though, lazy thing,” she said with a little giggle.
“Did you never go on your Journey?”
She shook her head. “No. My parents were Associate members, so I wasn’t allowed. I had to continue my schooling,” she said wistfully. “I would have liked to at least gotten one year to see how it went, but then I probably wouldn’t have gotten Pudd... It was the reward I got for valedictorian.”
“So you went to college? What did you major in?” It was nice to actually have a conversation with her that wasn’t about the Association.
“Business and personal relations,” she said happily. That made a lot of sense…
Before we could continue the conversation, the car stopped.
“Oh good, we’re here,” she said as she got out. “The Director is eager to talk to you.”
We traveled through the building, not being harassed by security even once on our way. Probably because they recognized Emma and weren’t about to stop her. I was fairly confident that she held quite a higher position in the Association than I had originally thought. Which made me wonder why she had been assigned as my liaison. It didn’t make sense to me.
She was at least second generation corporate, and both of her parents sounded important. The fact that she skipped her Journey and went straight into higher education showed that her path was planned well in advance. But she was doing the job that could be given to an intern. Was I that important? Had she volunteered? Was she forced to take this task? Was this a honey pot like I suspected? Or was there something I was missing?
Sure, Professor Burnet had been my liaison in Alola, but that seemed more out of lack of anyone else to do it. It was hard for me to parse out if something was off, or if I was actually just being paranoid again. That was always a problem. In an attempt to sooth my mind, I pulled out my phone and set it to record before settling it in the special holster on my bag.
Eventually we came to a rather heavy steel door with a keypad at the side. Emma input a code and the door slid open. “The Director is just over there,” she said with a smile and a slight bow, apparently she wasn’t coming inside.
As I stepped in, I nearly tripped as I caught sight of the room and its contents. It was large, with a high ceiling. The walls, floor, and ceiling were made of what looked like metal plating. The place reminded me of some sort of training or testing room. There were even monitors off to one side that were displaying different things. There were two people standing by the monitors, and a Pokemon. There was the old man that I recognized, and the one with large glasses that had been there for the Brute Bonnet.
But none of that was what surprised me. It was the Pokemon. Standing beside the old man was a tall, bipedal, and mostly gray. Its face was rather feline, with two short blunt horns on top of its head. It had a tube extending from the back of its head down to its back. That was the unmistakable form of a Mewtwo, but instead of purple, its stomach and tail were a sort of pale blue.
“Ah, Jason,” the old man said with a smile, the door closing behind me as he spoke. “You’re finally here. Good… Good.” He gestured for the other man to settle down. “Now, if you don’t mind, we’d like to get a look at your Pokemon.”
“Especially the newly discovered one,” the man in glasses added, clearly eager.
The old man shot him a glare. “Yes. That one is of particular interest to Expert Gale, he specializes in ghosts,” he said as he gestured to the man in glasses. That would mean the old man was the Director. He definitely looked the corpo type. The old money sort of corpo whose family had been around since dirt was discovered.
I nodded and opened my coat a bit. “Alright. That’s not difficult.” Everyone burst out into red light, most of them looking around a bit confused at where we were and what was going on.
“That is quite a lot,” the Director said, looking over at them all, but I saw the way his eyes lingered on Mikyu. “Is this all your Pokemon?”
I hesitated, wondering if I should mention Eevee. But technically everyone was not in pokeballs. “All of my Pokemon are out,” I answered after a moment. That bad feeling at the back of my head was starting to get worse when suddenly I felt an odd energy wash over the room.
Glancing around, no one else seemed to have noticed. I wondered if I had been the only one to feel it. “Good… Good… All of you Pokemon, go and line up over there,” he said, gesturing to the side.
All of them did so, a bit to my confusion. As I watched them I saw that their movements were a bit… rigid. Forced. My attention turned to the Mewtwo and I could see their eyes glowing with soft pink energy.
The old man approached me, a big smile on his face. “Such a hassle, dealing with young people like you. You think you know everything, and so you go galavanting around. Throwing your weight around like you own the place.” He stopped in front of me.
I was confused, and was about to say something when I suddenly thought better of it. This felt… strangely familiar.
“I was fine letting you be, slowly work you over into joining the Association…” He frowned. “But then you had to go and threaten to leave. Flying off to some Arceus forsaken islands. And for what? A vacation? You’re far too young to need a vacation.”
My mouth twitched as I tried to remain passive. Now I realized why this felt familiar. This bastard was monologuing like some cliche villain.
“But now you’ve forced my hand. You and your little group are going to require some more… permanent alterations. A bit of memory tweaking to your heads will get you in line,” he practically growled as he spoke.
Memory tweaking? My brow furrowed slightly. Gale hadn’t said anything or moved from where he was, clearly on the Directors side or under his control. Mewtwo was supposed to be capable of altering memories and erasing them, so this man was using them to… what? Remain in power of this branch of the Association?
Clearly he wasn’t done monologuing. “You think you’re the first little punk that’s gotten in my way? I’ve crushed so many… isn’t that right, Gale?”
“Yes, Director,” the other man replied rigidly, a rather glossy look in his eyes.
“You’re lucky that you actually have some skill, and knowledge. Otherwise no one would ever even worry about a body… If only you didn’t have this awful habit of collecting Pokemon… Disgusting creatures.” He spat on the floor in the direction of the group. “You need your way of thinking to be corrected. You all need to be corrected,” he sneered. “Shall we start with you? Or perhaps…” He turned to look at the group of Pokemon. “One of them?”
The moment his head turned, I raised my hand. Slowly pulling it back as I balled it into a fist, trying to remember the steps of how to properly throw a punch. Curl the fingers, tuck the thumb, strike with the knuckles.
“Perhaps one of the Lucario’s?” he asked with a rather wicked smile on his face as he turned back. “I’m sure that-” His sentence was cut off as I Sucker Punched him straight in the jaw. He crumpled immediately to the floor.
“I knew you were a piece of shit, but I didn’t think it went this far. How does a person who hates Pokemon get to be in such a position?” I pulled back my leg and went to kick his teeth in, but his body was quickly dragged across the floor and away from me. I looked up at the Mewtwo who had a rather strained look on their face.
“What the hell are you doing?!” he shouted as he stood up, holding his mouth that was dribbling blood.
The Mewtwo had its hands up, the three fingers on both hands outstretched. Clearly it was trying to use its psychic energy but it wasn’t working. Did I have high resistance? Was that something that Arceus had done? Was I immune, or resistant to psychic so that my knowledge couldn’t be probed into? Or was it-
“What do you mean too many targets?!” the Director shouted. “I don’t want to hear your excuses!”
That actually made a lot more sense. There were eleven Pokemon that it was trying to control all at once as well as me. Well, ten Pokemon if you didn’t count Eevee, but there was also Diancie who was a mythic. And judging from the strained look on all of the Pokemon lined up, they were fighting to regain control.
“I told you to keep them in check!” he continued shouting, rubbing at his jaw. I hadn’t broken it, but he was clearly missing teeth. My hand also hurt a little. How long has it been since I actually punched something? “Fine, then just go and-” he paused, and that wicked smile appeared back on his face, which caused him to wince. “No… wait. Make that one do it.” He pointed directly at Cara. “Have that one beat him into submission.”
I blinked and looked over at Cara who was slowly approaching. She had a pained expression, demonstrating that the Mewtwo wasn’t able to express full control and was letting some things slip. But it was clear that her body wasn’t listening to her. Had he chosen her on purpose? That was probably the most cruel choice he could have made. Being forced to fight someone you depend on, again. Against your will. Again. Before I could really try and think of what to do, she was suddenly in front of me, her paw thrusting forward.
I leaned to the side in panic, desperate to not get hit. And much to my surprise, and the surprise of everyone else, she missed. No, wait… I dodged? She stood there, frozen in place. Judging by the look on her face, she was also shocked that she hadn’t hit.
“What are you doing?!” the old man shouted again. “Get him!”
A second palm, again dodged. A third; dodged. She couldn’t seem to hit me. As the fourth blow came in, I realized what had to be the reason. She was fighting it. With all of them fighting, the Mewtwo was having difficulty with having Cara output her full force. She wasn’t even using any actual attacks or applying energy.
This happened for several more moments, and I actually lost track of how many strikes I had dodged. It was actually getting easier. Not because Cara was winning against the mental pressure, but because I could see her pattern. My brow furrowed a bit, and as she thrust out a palm, missing once again, I reached out and pat her with an open hand on the side, right at the bottom of her ribcage. “You’re open.”
Everyone stopped once again as she just stared incredulously at me. Clearly upset that I wasn’t taking the situation seriously. The break didn’t last long as we were soon continuing the little exchange.
But I was just trying to think of what to do. I would tire out far quicker than Cara would, so I needed to do something. “Open,” I said again as I tapped her again in the same spot. As we continued our little dance, I decided that this was a good moment to try and teach her. “I told you not to repeat yourself so much. Open.” I tapped her cheek lightly. “If a novice like me can see them, an expert would have floored you.”
From her expression, I could tell she was starting to get frustrated, which was partially what I wanted. Emotions were supposed to be a good way to overpower psychic powers, right? “What are you doing?!” the old man shouted, not at me, but at the Mewtwo who was clearly struggling. Even at this distance I could see the sweat dripping down its form.
This Mewtwo didn’t look very young, but was clearly malnourished and not cared for. The fact that it was here at all was a huge deviation from what I knew from the show. Had there been multiple cloning projects? Had there been more subjects at Giovanni’s lab? So many questions, but I couldn’t focus any time on thinking about it.
After another moment of exchanges, and another tap with another “Open” comment, I decided that maybe actually striking would work better. Mentally I walked through the steps to throw a kick. Set stance, place footing, twist with the hip and extend the leg as you go to make contact, aim past your target not at it. However my foot never made it that far as Cara grabbed hold of my leg before it even struck her. “Oh… Uh… I got cocky,” I said with a bit of a chuckle.
Then I watched as she gripped my leg with both paws and set her footing. I instantly knew what she was about to do, and a fraction of a second later she twisted her body and flung me across the room.
I hit the wall.
Hard.
The air was knocked out of my lungs as I crumpled to the floor.
My ears were ringing.
I think I dented the wall.
Had I hit my head?
If I did, that was going to be another concussion.
Yeah, definitely concussed.
My thoughts are sluggish.
Scrambled brain.
Faintly I heard someone scream.
"Papa!"
That was Rio.
What a good girl.
I didn't realize she saw me like that.
That was a nice feeling.
When I forced my eyes open my vision was blurry.
My back hurt, but surprisingly my head didn’t.
Had I just blacked out for a moment?
Looking forward I was surprised to see a mass of brown, which slowly took the shape of Eevee as I focused. Standing on wobbly legs in a defensive posture. Poor thing had probably hit the wall pretty hard, too.
I was at a bit of a weird angle, as further ahead I could see the expression of my family. They all looked so upset. It took a moment before I could finally find Cara. She was shaking, still holding the stance from when she had thrown me. Tears streamed down her face.
Getting up was a struggle, but I was managing now that my lungs didn’t feel like they were on fire. I slowly raised my hand and gave her a thumbs up. “Good throw,” I managed to say, my voice a bit strained as I got to my feet.
I was now much closer to the Director and the Mewtwo, who was now visibly struggling even more to hold on to control. The old man was facing towards me, clearly wary of the little brown fuzzball of a Pokemon in front of him. “You missed this one as well!” he shouted at the Mewtwo, pointing accusingly at the Eevee that was struggling to stand. Clearly this man was dumb, or blind, or both, considering he actually saw the little thing as a threat.
She also seemed unaffected by the psychic control, probably because she hadn’t been grabbed by the initial wave. It was a good thing she had been in my hood. Had I blocked it from hitting her? Or was it because the Mewtwo couldn’t see her?
All of the others were slowly forcing their way forward, Rio having made the most progress as stalked towards them, just brute forcing her way through whatever the Mewtwo was doing. Clearly the Mewtwo was losing control. Brains over brawn, and brains were losing. “What are you doing?!” the Director shouted. “Don’t let them move! Keep them still!”
The Mewtwo was now drenched in sweat with the struggle, its arms shaking as it tried to do everything it could. I didn’t know how powerful this Pokemon was, but trying to control this many Pokemon was clearly beyond its capabilities. It apparently tried to communicate this with the Director, but he was having none of it.
“Don’t give me excuses!” the Director shouted, pulling something out of his pocket. He held up an oddly colored pokeball. It had a white bottom, purple top, with two rose colored orbs and a white M imprinted on the front. “You will listen to me! You will do as I tell you!” he screamed desperately. “I own you!”
“Give me that,” I said as I ripped the ball from his hands. With slight force I pulled it open, and with a twist there was a loud crack that filled the room as the ball snapped into two pieces.
The room was suddenly filled with pressure, and everything became silent. I couldn’t even hear the sound of my breathing. “What have you done…” I looked up as the Director spoke, just in time to see the Mewtwo appear in front of him, its hand around his throat. There were tears in its eyes, and absolute hatred painted on its face. But being this close, I could also feel a subtle but intense feeling of relief.
Slowly it lifted him off the ground, the Director grasped at its wrist, trying to struggle and break from the grip. And then for the first time I heard its voice. Everyone heard it, I was sure of that. A voice filled with so much rage that it choked the entire room. “I’m going to make you regret ever existing.”
And then they were gone.
Everyone started to gasp for air, finally able to breathe now that the pressure was gone. Immediately I scooped up Eevee and put her on my shoulder as I took several steps towards Cara. I tucked the halves of the masterball into my bag before pulling her in tightly. “It’s okay…” I said softly, rubbing the back of her head. She was still crying as she gripped my coat tightly. This was the first time I had ever seen her cry. “I’m okay…”
Dee was behind me, using her healing on me and checking me over. “You cracked your skull again… but I can fix it,” she mumbled.
Again I thought back to how the Mewtwo’s psychic energy couldn’t affect me, and yet Dee’s could. I wondered why that was and almost immediately got an answer. Beneficial effects ignore type immunity. That immediately raised another question. I had a type? Humans had energy types? Or was this something that Arceus gave me?
Thinking about it a moment more, it made a lot of sense. Humans could be psychic. Humans could learn aura. So those humans would have the psychic type, or fighting type. That was really interesting. So this would mean that I had either psychic or steel type energy and was resistant to psychic, or more likely I had dark type energy since it specified that I was immune. That would also explain why the Professor's machine would have seen a lot of dark type energy when scanning Mikyu.
That would require testing, but I wasn’t keen on getting hit by any attack infused with energy. Thus far I had managed to avoid it. Even when Cara threw me, it hadn’t been using fighting energy but just raw strength. Yeah maybe I wouldn’t test that… just getting thrown hurt enough.
While I was thinking, everyone else had come in as well. Rio had been the first to reach us and wrap her arms around me and her mother, followed by Scoly and Diancie. Eevee pressed her head against Cara’s, as Goomy, Mikyu, Banette, and Keo all squeezed themselves into the group hug. Then Primarina practically draped herself over the group.
Dee was pressing into my back, and I could feel her shaking slightly, probably also crying. I could only imagine how frustrated she must be at having to stand and watch something happen when she could do nothing, again.
This had been really close.
Probably closer than I was really willing to admit out loud. I was tired and my whole body ached, even after being healed. “It’s okay…” I whispered softly, gently stroking the back of Cara’s head. Her grip just tightened in response. “I’m here…”
The fact that she made no noise while crying worried me a bit, because that would imply she had learned to break down quietly. I could imagine that she’d done so to not worry Rio…
It was several minutes before Cara started to calm down. That was fine by me, though I had one concern. Gale was still in the room. However when I looked over, he was on the ground and unmoving. I was a bit worried for a moment if he was dead, or just passed out. Looking past him I could see where I struck the wall, just to the side of all the display screens there was a sizeable dent. Just looking at it made my back hurt.
Slowly I pulled out my phone still recording. Oh good, all of that would be good evidence against that guy if he ever pops up again. Although, judging from how that Mewtwo reacted, he would not. I fiddled with the phone for a moment to make sure the video was saved before I called Sycamore.
It took a few moments before he answered. He looked to be sitting in some sort of laboratory, working on something. “Ah, Jason? You back in Kalos? I heard you- what’s going on?”
“Uh… So… Hm.” I thought for a moment realizing I probably should have thought of what to say before calling. “Can you call Officer Jenny and have her come to the Association Headquarters? Things got… Okay, so short of it is the Director has been mind controlling people using an experimental legendary Pokemon, and probably also murdering people.”
There was a rather long pause as the Professor just sort of stared at me. Finally he spoke, “That’s the short of it?”
I just sort of shrugged as best I could considering the group hug. “Gale is currently unconscious, I think, and the Mewtwo disappeared with the Director. And I have everything recorded, and boy did he like to monologue.”
“He’s always been long winded…” he said slowly. “Can you send me the video? I’ll send it to Officer Jenny.”
Again I started to fiddle with the phone as I nodded. “Yeah. It’s kinda long, but the important stuff is pretty early.” I sent him the video, and shortly after I could hear the audio. He must have his phone connected to one of his work stations as his focus was off to the side. Or was there some sort of call forwarding? Didn’t matter right now. I could clearly hear the Director talking and ranting about things.
“Alright…” he said with a sigh after it started to get into the fighting. I’ve sent the video to Officer Jenny. Where are you now?”
“Locked in some sort of… training room? Experiment room? I’m not sure. Somewhere in the Association Headquarters.” I looked over at the door. “I actually haven’t tried to get out, so I don’t know if I’m trapped or anything, but the room required a code to enter.”
His brow furrowed. “I don’t know of any room like that.”
Then I had a thought. “Do you think he’s messed with your head?”
Suddenly his eyes went wide as if he hadn’t thought of that. “That…” he paused to collect his thoughts and then nodded. “Yes, that seems rather likely…” He sighed.
“I’m fairly certain he messed a lot with my liaison’s head. She seemed rather… Uncertain of things. And it also explains the interactions I’ve had with her.” I was comparing the conversation in the car with Emma compared to the other times I’d talked with her. “And Gale looked completely out of it.” Again I glanced over at the man on the ground. “I’m uh… Not sure if he’s dead or just unconscious.”
The Professor just nodded slowly. “You can see him collapse in the video shortly after you… Did you break that masterball?”
I nodded. “It was the first thing that I thought to do.”
He sighed. “Those are so expensive…”
“I think the well-being of that Mewtwo is far more important,” I retorted a bit testily. “Look at the state of that poor thing in the video. He was clearly abusing it.”
“And you let it go,” he replied.
“And hopefully that was enough,” I said with a huff. “I’ve no idea how the Association got one, but a Mewtwo with a grudge is something that I want to avoid. Hopefully my actions were enough and it only hates the Director and not all of humanity.”
He paused for a moment and then sighed. “So you know a lot about that Pokemon?”
“Yes. It’s an artificial Pokemon.”
His brow furrowed. “That’s not-” he stopped and then rubbed the side of his head. “Damn it. The Director must have planted false memories…”
“That’s something that makes Mewtwo so dangerous. Mind control. Memory altering and erasing.” I sighed softly. “They’re one of the most powerful Pokemon, but this one was clearly starved, and kept weak to be easier to control.”
“How powerful are we talking?” he asked as he was doing something with the terminal.
That was a good question, and I had to think about it for a moment. “I would have to guess that some are at the level of a pureblood legendary.”
He froze. It took him several seconds before he finally spoke again, “How many of them are there?”
I shook my head. “No idea. I know of several, but I didn’t recognize this one.”
He rubbed his face. “So there’s an unknown number of these things running around?”
“And they have two Mega Evolutions,” I added, which just caused him to groan in frustration. “Most of them don’t seem bad, though.”
“Most?” he asked, exasperated.
“Well, there is one in particular that is a bit concerning, but either it’s already been handled and calmed down, or has taken some sort of different path,” I explained, looking at the Pokemon around me, who were all still just holding each other and me in a big group hug.
“What makes you think that?”
“The event should have already happened, since the main people involved seem to be alright, the situation must have resolved.” I thought about Ash and how he was in Sinnoh, meaning the whole thing with Mewtwo should have already happened.
There was a bit of a pause as he looked over at me. “You’ve been keeping track of events?”
I shook my head. “Not on purpose. No, this one I just happened to come across.”
“Well, that’s at least good news… However, the message I just got is not…” He was staring at the screen ahead of him. “Officer Jenny is at the Association Headquarters, and everyone is unconscious.”
I frowned for a moment as I thought. “When the Mewtwo was freed, it unleashed a lot of psychic pressure. It might have had some kind of backlash to anyone that it had mentally altered within a certain range.”
“That implies literally every Association employee in the building has had their mind altered,” he said in a very concerned tone as he focused his attention back on the screen.
“Yeah, that would make sense. The Director would have had to have everyone at least slightly changed so that they wouldn’t ask questions,” I said, nodding.
“But you weren’t affected?” he glanced over at me.
“My memory hasn’t been altered. And… I seem to be rather resistant to psychic energy.”
He turned his focus towards me, giving me a quizzical look.
I shook my head. “I’m not sure why.”
“Alright… Well, Officer Jenny is requesting that you exit the building,” he said as he turned his attention back to the screen. “If you can. I’m on my way as well.”
I gave a nod. “Alright. Talk to you soon, Professor.”
He just nodded as he reached over and ended the call.
“Rude,” I said with a chuckle and put my phone away. “Okay… Let’s get out of here.” I pet the top of Cara’s head.
She nodded, but didn’t say anything as she pulled away. Her doing so caused everyone to slowly separate. I straightened up a bit, looking around at everyone. They all looked alright, at least physically. It looked like some of them had cried, or were struggling to not. I was going to have to have a long talk with all of them. Maybe try to figure out how to prevent that.
Everyone followed as I moved over to the door, and as I suspected there was a keypad. I frowned, staring at it for a moment. Thankfully it didn’t take long for me to have an idea and I pulled out my phone. It was a good thing I had started to record before getting to the door.
Honestly it was a really bad security habit to allow others to record in a place like this, but I’m sure they didn’t have any regulations. The angle was a bit off, but after watching it a few times, I did my best to mimic Emma’s movements. It took four tries before I got it right and the door opened. “I’m in,” I mumbled to myself and then snorted. “Or wait… out?” Shaking my head I looked around the hallway. Rio and Scoly gave me a puzzled look but I just waved them off. “It’s nothing.”
I hesitated a moment as I saw Emma slumped against the wall, Pudd sitting on her lap and seemingly trying to wake her. The pink dough froze when it realized it was being watched and hurriedly hid within her coat. Part of me wanted to help, but I wasn’t sure what to do.
“Dee.” I looked back as I moved forward through the hall. “Can you check on her real quick?” I asked, gesturing to the woman.
Dee was quick to nod and move over. After a moment I watched as a pulse of healing went over her. “She didn’t hit her head. She’s just unconscious… But I can’t tell why.”
“You’re sure she’s okay?” I took a few more steps down the hall to make sure everyone was out of that room. “How can you tell?” I was honestly curious because it didn’t look like she did much examination.
“When I use Heal Pulse, I can see the injuries that it’s healing,” she explained. Which made the move sound even more useful than I had thought. That’s why she could immediately tell my skull had fractured.
I nodded and we all started to make our way down the hall. Cara was beside me, having not let go of my coat for even a moment. This incident could really damage all of the work we’ve done to help her deal with her trauma. In the worst case scenario, she might have a complete mental breakdown… Dee seemed to have handled it better, but from her expression it was clear that she was heavily affected.
“I think we all need a pick-me-up,” I said as I reached down and grabbed the bean pouch. Everyone got a bean, the treat lightening the mood a bit.
They were still munching on them when we came out into the lobby and I spotted Officer Jenny. She froze as she saw me, the Arcanine at her side immediately going into a battle stance. “Please identify yourself,” she said, eying me and the group.
I pulled my identification out of my back and held it out. “Pokemon Expert Jason. I called Sycamore about this incident, and was also the one who recorded the video.”
She studied the ID for a moment before moving closer for a better look. A relieved sigh escaped her as she pat the Arcanine. “Glad to see someone conscious… Any idea why it happened?”
“Psychic energy backlash, I think,” I said as I put the card away. “You watched the video, right?”
She hesitated, but nodded. “Yes. And what I saw is… Extremely concerning…”
I nodded. “The Pokemon in the video is a Mewtwo. An extremely powerful, artificially created psychic type. And… Well, you saw what it was capable of, and there’s probably going to be a lot more evidence of what it was used for.” As I spoke, there were other police officers that were coming in and heading off deeper into the building. They all seemed to eye me with a bit of suspicion, but didn’t interact since I was talking to Jenny.
“I see…” She glanced around for a moment and then looked at my group. “Would you mind returning your Pokemon?”
I felt Cara’s grip tighten on my coat. “Considering the circumstances, I’m afraid I can’t comply with that,” I responded.
She sighed, putting her hands on her hips. “You’re going to fight me on this?”
“Yes, I am,” I said firmly. “I mean no disrespect. But they’ve just had a traumatic event, as have I, where they were forced to watch as one of them was made to attack me against their will while they could do nothing to help.”
There was a moment of silence as she studied me for a moment before she nodded. “Alright. Fine. Just… head on outside and try to not get in the way. And please don’t leave.”
I nodded. “I can do that.” I put a hand on Cara’s back as I nudged her forward and we all made our way outside. It took a moment of looking to find a place that we could all sort of gather that was out of the way. There were a lot of police cars in front of the building, as well as ambulances and firetrucks, which I hadn’t seen before now.
There were a lot of people moving about, and eventually people started to be taken out on stretchers and loaded into the ambulances. I spotted several Nurse Joy’s, which was always a bit of a trip to see multiple at once.
Scoly was blocking me from most of the area, with Goomy, Mikyu, Banette, and Keo all on her back. Eevee was sitting on my shoulder, while Dee, Primarina, and Diancie were on my right near the entrance of the building, as if ready to block anything that came out.
Cara had still not let go of my coat, standing close to me. In fact everyone was standing quite close, watching the people just like I was. The big difference was everyone but me was on edge. I was just annoyed at myself. I practically knew that the Association wasn’t good, but I didn’t act on it.
Again my inaction had gotten people hurt.
This was extremely frustrating, and I started to brood on my choices again. It had been a good thing I hadn’t told Sycamore about things, because then the Association would have found out. No, I should specify; the Director would have found out.
Eventually I’d have to figure out what the heck that guy's name was.
He probably knew that I was from a different world, and probably a bunch of other people, too. Hopefully none of them believed it. That would be something I’d have to watch out for. For now I was just kicking myself mentally, but also trying to reason that I didn’t have the resources to do anything.
Sure there was evidence that the Association was corrupt, as all large organizations like them tend to be, but I can’t be sure if I can pin this whole event on them, or on the Director in specific. Did he work alone or with accomplices? Was the Association as a whole aware of his actions? If so, were they just ignoring him or encouraging him?
Cara’s head hit my chest, breaking me from my thoughts. “You’re upset…” she mumbled.
Everyone’s attention turned to me. “I am… frustrated.,” I admitted. “I feel like I should have been better prepared for this, but seeing that Mewtwo had thrown me for a loop.”
“Yeah, that sucked,” Rio grumbled, her brow furrowing. “It was like… my head went all fuzzy and I couldn’t control myself anymore.” The others all nodded and murmured their agreements.
Cara’s grip tightened, and I worried if she was going to rip my coat. “I couldn’t…” She hiccuped, trying not to cry anymore.
“It’s alright…” I said softly, rubbing her head.
“I couldn’t stop myself…” she mumbled, pressing her face against my chest. “No matter how hard I tried…”
“But you fought it,” I said softly. “And you managed to hold back.”
There was a moment of pause before she looked up at me, her eyes wet and threatening to burst again. “I didn’t hold back? I couldn’t…”
That caused me to pause as I looked down at her. “You were trying to hit me for real? But you never used any actual move, or channeled energy.”
“I couldn’t… It was… it was like something was blocking it…” she said, tilting her head.
I had to think about that for a moment. “Maybe that was the Mewtwo’s act of defiance, or maybe it requires more energy to do something like that…” I murmured.
“You thought I held back?” Cara asked, rubbing her face to try and keep herself from crying.
“Well… Yeah?” I waved a hand vaguely. “You didn’t hit me once.”
She frowned at me. “I-” she stopped, and then turned her head away. “Not for a lack of trying…” she mumbled.
My eyebrow arched a bit. “Oh? You were trying to hit me?” I said with a bit of a smirk.
“You-” She pointed up at me accusingly. “You were teasing me. Taunting me.” She paused for a moment and then looked embarrassed as she looked away. “And I just… I got frustrated.”
I snorted, trying to keep myself from laughing and failing. “Well, it’s a good thing that I could dodge.”
“Yeah, how did you do that?” Scoly asked.
I thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. “I honestly have no idea. I think that Cara was actually holding back, or maybe the Mewtwo wasn’t actually trying to hurt me.”
“Aren’t you just faster than Cara?” Keo asked.
That caused me to actually laugh as I shook my head. “There’s no way. That was the first fight I’ve been in in decades.”
“You used to fight?” Rio asked, her and Keo’s eyes lighting up.
“Hardly,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “Just some scuffles when I was a teenager.”
Before they could ask anymore questions, a car suddenly pulled up, its tires screeching a bit as it slowed and parked nearby. It was a car that I recognized, and its owner was confirmed when Professor Sycamore stepped out. He had a rather worried look on his face as he looked over at the people being wheeled out of the building.
He glanced over at me and gave a slight wave to acknowledge me before he went over to talk to an Officer Jenny. There were at least four of them here now that I had spotted. How does anyone keep track of who’s who? How did Brock do it? That had to just be some weirdly strong obsession to be able to notice such minute details to be able to tell them apart at a glance.
Looking down, I could see Cara glaring at the Professor. She was probably blaming him for this, which I didn’t think was entirely correct but I also couldn’t confidently defend him since I knew so little about the overall situation.
He spoke with Officer Jenny for several minutes before he made his way over to me. He had a sour expression on his face. “Jason,” he greeted me with a nod. “Do you mind coming over to the research center?”
I stared at him a moment, unsure if I should accept his offer, but not really having a reason to deny it. I couldn’t tell if I was just being overly paranoid, or if there was something actually wrong. Rather than commit, I asked, “Why?”
The sour expression on his face intensified before he spoke, “Officer Jenny wants you away from the site, but she also doesn’t want you to leave Lumiose until the investigations are over.”
My brow furrowed. “Investigation? And how long will that take?”
He shook his head. “No idea,” he said with a sigh. “But she implied that you could either come with me to the research center… or go down to the station.”
I frowned as I looked over at Officer Jenny who was watching us. She wasn’t glaring, but it was clear she was upset. “Fine. Do you at least have an area where I can continue training them?”
Once I had gotten confirmation to that, I tried to get everyone back in their pokeballs. It had been a struggle to convince everyone, but in the end I relented and allowed Cara to stay out and ride along in the car which was enough of a compromise for the rest. Professor Sycamore didn’t seem to mind.
As we drove, Cara spoke up. “Is there any way to keep that from happening again?”
I glanced back at her, and then looked at the Professor who was watching the road. “Is there any way to prevent that sort of control from a psychic Pokemon?” I asked.
His brow furrowed a bit and he glanced over at me before looking back at the road. “Not something you’re aware of?” he asked.
Shaking my head, I responded, “No.”
He thought about it for a moment. “Well, it’s hard to say if there’s really a method. It’s mostly just being prepared for it.”
I frowned. “So if we had been expecting it, it would have been more difficult for the Mewtwo to control everyone?”
That got a shrug in response. “It’s just like any other attack, right? You just have to not get hit.”
My frown deepened as I looked at him. He clearly didn’t have a very high aptitude for battling, but what he said made sense in the most simple of ways. “I guess that’s one way to think about it. Disrupting it, or avoiding it… But that’s not entirely helpful in that situation.”
“Yeah, it was able to control all of your Pokemon within seconds,” he paused for a moment. “Have you had any of your Pokemon fight psychic types?”
I had to think about that for a moment before I slowly shook my head. “No… They haven’t.”
“That’s probably the problem. I’m sure you can train them to sort of… block out that sort of thing?” he questioned, unsure.
Something told me that it was possible. But how to do it was the question. Maybe I could go to Anistar City and ask Olympia about it? She’s a bit eccentric, but she’s very good natured. Then I slapped my forehead as I realized something.
“What’s up?” Sycamore asked, glancing over at me with a confused expression.
“Nothing… Just… I think that I know too much. It makes it difficult to remember specific details if I’m not thinking on the right path,” I tried to explain.
He just laughed a bit. “That must be annoying.”
“Yeah…” I sighed as I leaned back in my seat more. Olympia was a powerful psychic with the power to see the future and past. I could try and ask her about some things… “I should go and talk with Olympia,” I said aloud with a nod.
“Olympia?” Sycamore just looked even more confused. “You’re having problems with psychic attacks and you’re going to challenge the psychic gym first?” Then it was like he realized. “Oh. Yeah, that’s actually a good idea. Olympia would be able to help you with things.”
I nodded a few times. “Exactly. I wasn’t planning to do the gyms in order, anyways. But I think Anistar will be my first stop.” I paused as I thought about it. “Actually… Maybe I’ll do Santalune first. Or… hm…” My brow furrowed. I hadn’t thought about what order I would do the gyms in. I had just assumed that I was going to do them in order, but did I have to do that?
As if he knew my unasked question, Sycamore smiled a bit. “While there is a suggested gym route, you’re not required to take it.” As he spoke we finally reached the research center and he showed me to a large open area. It sure looked like a training area.
He said it was a test area, where they would do things that were not safe to do inside. Mostly it was where he had tested Mega Evolutions, but it hadn’t seen use in some time as no new stones had been discovered. He let me set up my tent right up against the building, and to improve everyone's mood I gave them a pokeblock and instructed them a bit on how to train.
Most of them actually seemed reluctant at first, but with Rio and Keo being the eager little battle junkies they are, it didn’t take long to convince them. Even Cara decided to join them, though I think it was because she found a new reason to train.
Right now I was standing on a balcony, leaning on the railing as I overlooked them as they trained. The spot looked familiar, and it wasn’t long before I realized that this was where Professor Sycamore usually called me from.
As I realized that, the man himself came out from a heavy metal door, moving over to join me at the railing. He sighed a bit as he looked down at the training Pokemon before he held out a bottle towards me. “After a day like today, I think we both need a drink.”
I looked at it for a moment, hesitating before I sighed and took it. Without thinking, I brought the bottle up and bit down on the bottle cap, giving the bottle a little tug as I popped it open. I placed the cap down on the railing before looking at the bottle.
“That’s a neat trick,” he said with a bit of a laugh.
“Something I learned in my early college days,” I said, smiling as I thought back to it.
“You went to college?” he asked, turning a bit more to face me.
“Yeah,” I said with a nod before taking a small sip. Afterwards I looked at the bottle again, actually reading what it was. It was a mead, when I was expecting a beer. An odd shock to the tastebuds to be sure.
He seemed to think for a moment. “You know… I never did ask much about you, did I? About your life. What did you used to do?”
“I was a teacher,” I said, still smiling as I reminisced.
There was a choking noise beside me, followed by a small coughing fit. I looked over at the Professor as it seemed he’d just inhaled some of his drink. After a moment and a few pats to his chest he seemed to regain himself. “Sorry. Sorry. You just… Seem a bit young to be a teacher.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Professor, I’ll be forty in the spring.”
He stared at me in disbelief for a moment before he shook his head. “You don’t look it.”
Reaching up, I rubbed my chin a bit. I hadn’t even grown any stubble. “Yeah… I’m as surprised about that as you are,” I said with a chuckle.
“How long were you doing that for?” he asked, clearly curious.
I nodded slightly. “Fourteen years,” I paused. “More if you count the time I was just an intern.”
We fell into silence for a few minutes, just watching the Pokemon train before he spoke again. “So what did you get your degree in? Since you went to college.”
“I’ve got a bachelor’s in health science, and another in education.” I let out a soft snort. “And more minor degrees than I honestly know what to do with.”
He leaned more against the railing, again turning his focus on me. “So you were in college for…five years?”
I shook my head. “Seven. I started out going for an engineering degree, but-” I hesitated, wondering how much I was really willing to open up. “Stuff happened.”
“Does it have to do with your little bottle trick?” he asked with a joking tone.
“Kinda sorta,” I said as I made a wobbling motion with my hand. “My time in college was… complicated.”
“Oh?” He leaned a bit more into the railing. “Do tell.” He sounded like a kid waiting for his parents to read him a bedtime story.
I glanced at him before sighing and taking another sip from the bottle. It was a pretty good mead. I wondered if it was from Combee or Beedrill as I mulled over where to start. “Well, I suppose the best place to begin… I’m not really good at talking about myself. But… I fell in love. Absolute fire of a romance, and we were so infatuated with each other that we went for the same degree, same school, same classes.”
He was quiet, and honestly looked a bit less eager to hear the story as he was a moment ago.
“We did everything together. We partied. Got the whole college package. And we did it all together… I thought it would last forever…” I sighed. “But then it all crashed and burned. Hard.” I took another sip, thinking back on those days. “So I changed everything. Went to a different college. Changed my major to health science. Got lucky and managed to get into a really good program that was paying for my schooling in exchange for me working. Was going really well, until the one running the program lost his grant money and the whole thing was shut down.”
“Ugh I know that too well,” he said with a bit of a nod. “Getting and keeping grants for research projects isn’t easy.”
I nodded as well. “I was at a complete loss of what to do for a bit… until a friend of my fathers offered me a deal. If I got my education degree on top of my health science one, and signed an employment contract, they’d pay for my college. Twenty years working at their school.”
“So you didn’t finish your contract?” he asked, a bit of a smile on his face.
I let out a soft snort as I shook my head. “Nope. But it was still great… Being an intern teacher was annoying, but once I became a substitute things got better. Four years as a sub, and then they made me the physical education teacher, as well as one of the science teachers.” I paused. “Which is kind of a weird combination?”
He laughed and then shrugged. “Well, I guess they put you where they thought they needed you. What ages did you teach?”
“I guess?” I shrugged with a slight laugh. “I taught kids anywhere between twelve and eighteen. But anyways, two years of that, and then I became a guidance counselor. Those were two of the best and worst years of my life… Constantly butting heads with the school board, fighting for them to treat those damned kids as actual people and not just names on paper.”
There was a moment of silence as I took another sip and thought about that time. “So that’s why you have a problem with authority,” he said, not phrasing it as a question but as a statement.
That caused me to laugh. “Oh, one of them. I’ve just seen so many people abuse their authority that it’s hard to trust them. Or in some cases, they neglect their duties.”
He grimaced slightly at my comment. “Maybe the new Directory won’t force me to do work outside of my expertise and actually hire proper people.”
I nodded. “He probably just wanted to keep you busy.”
“Busy is an understatement. Man ran me ragged,” he said with a short laugh.
I laughed a bit, too. “Well, it didn’t last long,” I continued, “After two years of fighting them, they had enough and I was moved back to a teaching role. But I wasn’t an actual teacher anymore… so I was just an assistant teacher. They didn’t want to fire me because I was still locked into the contract, and while if I broke it there’d be some serious consequences, but if they broke it I’d get off clean and free.”
“Teaching the same subjects?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Mostly physical education and substitute work. Six years of that before…” my voice trailed off as I thought back on the incident.
“Before you came here,” he finished and I nodded.
Once again we fell into silence as I slowly sipped the mead. He seemed fairly content with the lull in conversation. I couldn't really say it was quiet, due to the hoard of fighting Pokemon below us. “You know…” I said after a while, the sun started to go down. “Sometimes I wonder… when I’m laying down and trying to sleep… I wonder if it was one of my students.”
Sycamore didn’t say anything, clearly not having an answer.
But then again, I didn’t have an answer either.
After a few minutes I finished off the bottle before setting it down on the railing. “I’ve gotta go make dinner for them. Thanks for the drink.”
He nodded. “Officer Jenny will be by in a few days to get statements.”
I just nodded as I made my way down, gathering everyone up for dinner. They seemed a lot more energetic, since Cara had told them about what we’d talked about in the car. They were eager to find a way to increase their psychic defenses. But that would have to wait.
It was actually two days before Officer Jenny came to discuss what happened. Again I was up on the balcony, watching the Pokemon train when Jenny came out. “Ah, Jason.” She quickly moved up, taking out a familiar looking recording device and setting it on the railing. “I apologize for how long it took to get to you but… well, as we started digging into this branch of the Association we just kept finding more and more…”
“It’s alright,” I said with a bit of a smile. “I kind of expected as much.”
She nodded. “Unfortunately your whole situation has been moved to a far lower priority. Especially because we can’t locate Director Yellow.”
My eye twitched and my full focus was now on Officer Jenny. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the way that Cara’s full attention snapped to us. She had such good hearing. “I…honestly don’t think anyone is going to find him.”
Again she nodded. “We’ve reached the same conclusion, but the Yellow family is…” She sighed. “Influential within the Association. They were quick to cut ties with the Director before anything could be linked back to them, but I still put in a request to investigate just in case he had conspirators within the family…” her voice trailed off.
“But they’ve blocked all of your requests,” I finished her sentence and she nodded. That was an extremely interesting bit of information. Chances were that Andrew was a member of this Yellow family, since big powerful families like that don’t like it when the average rabble shares anything in common with them.
“Some of them are trying to blame you, but the evidence of your recording is so damning that they can’t actually put together any sort of argument.” She smiled a bit. “Good job on that, by the way.”
At that point I realized that this wasn’t the Officer Jenny that I had seen yesterday. This was the Jenny from Santalune who had helped me. There was something about her face that was a lot kinder. “I suggest that people do it more often,” I said as I returned her smile.
“I’d agree to that. If we had more people doing that, we’d have an easier time finding who the bad guys actually are…” She shook her head. “While a lot of the Association building has cameras, most of them were turned off before you arrived.”
I arched an eyebrow. “So they…didn’t want anyone to find out that I was there?”
She shrugged. “We don’t know. Everyone we’ve interviewed has had their minds scrambled. Some of them are so bad that they can hardly even be considered alive…” I could see the way that she shuddered at the thought. It must have been extremely unpleasant.
“I’ll have to be careful of the Yellow family…” I muttered. Especially because I doubted they were going to be alright with my actions, and my future actions. “Who are they, anyways?”
“They’re an old Champion family from the Johto and Kanto region. They’ve had nine Champions in their family scattered about different regions. It would be eleven, but two of them were discredited and lost the title when it was found they had cheated.”
“So an old family of scummy cheaters.” I was frowning and then stiffened slightly when I realized something and glanced down at the recording device. Immediately I relaxed when it was obvious she hadn’t turned it on yet.
“They have a ton of sway in the Association and practically control all the Leagues… You’re going to have a hard time if you plan to participate.” That was clearly a warning.
I smiled in response. “Thanks. But they’re going to have an even harder time getting the drop on me now, considering that I’m aware of them.”
She let out a soft sort of giggle. “Well, considering that they couldn’t even keep you down with that artificial psychic legendary, you’ve probably got a good shot… But, if you need help, either come ask me, or one of the Joy’s.”
That made me narrow my eyes a bit. “Not just any Officer?”
Her eyes darted around for a moment before she shook her head. “We’ve already found evidence that at least two Jenny’s and several officers are on the Yellow’s payroll. I don’t know if they just don’t see the Joy’s as a threat, or we just haven’t found anything yet but… They seem safer.”
“It’s that bad?” I asked, looking around a bit.
“I had to fight to be the one to interview you.” She leaned against the railing with a sigh. “And the only reason I was allowed was because I knew you, and argued you’d be more willing to talk to me.”
That was something I nodded to in agreement. “Yeah.”
There was silence for a few moments before she straightened up. “Alright. Now that I’ve said all that, let’s do this interview so I can get you off this leash,” she said with a smile before clicking the button on the machine to start.
I then had to explain everything that happened from my perspective as best as I could remember it. She didn’t ask many questions, just a few clarifications. Especially when it came to the Mewtwo. That seemed to be the biggest point of contention, and while she held it from her voice, it was clear by her expression that she didn’t want me to actually answer any questions. So I kept it vague, mostly about what I had observed.
Surprisingly none of her questions were about how I knew it was artificial, but that was probably because there were a few of those. Mostly the focus was on how I knew what it was. In response I just said that it told me. None of what it said, aside from its parting words, were caught on the recording so it was impossible to disprove that.
Eventually it seemed that all of her questions were answered and she thanked me for my time before turning off the recording, but didn’t make any movements to leave. “Are you alright?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said with a nod.
“It didn’t mess with your head?” There was an odd sort of concern to her tone.
I let out a soft chuckle and shook my head. “No. I’m not entirely sure why, but it wasn’t able to force its will on me. And no, I don’t know why,” I said before she could ask, “I only have theories.”
She took a moment to think about that, before she nodded. “Okay. Well, here. Lemme give you my number so that you’ve got access to the police.”
I actually laughed a bit as I got my phone out. “I actually don’t even know the number for the police, so that’s a good idea.”
She stared at me for a moment, hesitating to take my phone. Then her eyes widened. “Oh! Right! Someone would have to tell you that.” She shook her head as took my phone and entered her contact details. “Well, as long as you’re in Kalos, use that number.”
I nodded a bit as I took the phone back, and looked at what she had entered. She had put herself as Adria Jenny, Santalune. I felt like my entire brain froze for several seconds as I stared at it. “Your name is Adria?” I managed to ask before she turned around.
There was a puzzled expression on her face. “Yes? Did you think that my name was Jenny?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t answer. All I could feel was embarrassment.
It took a moment before she started giggling, which turned into full blown laughter. She had to grip her sides she was laughing so hard, and it took almost a full minute before she managed to talk .”Sorry…sorry…” She cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure. “Jenny is the clan name. I guess you wouldn’t know that… Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I lied. I had never even considered the fact that it was their last name. Wait…did that also mean… “So Joy is a clan name, too. Right?”
She looked to be fighting back more giggles as she nodded. “Yes.”
Now I felt a bit bad that I’d never gotten any of the Nurse Joy’s names that I was on good terms with. I wondered what Farm Joy’s name was? “Alright. If I have any trouble that needs police help, I’ll give you a call.”
She nodded and smiled as she turned to leave. “You better,” she said with a laugh and a wave.
Thankfully that was a good interaction. Adria was not the type that I expected from an Officer Jenny, but with so many it was obvious that there would be many different types. At least she was on my side.
Unfortunately, it still took a few days before I was able to finally leave the research center. Apparently there was a lot of paperwork, and some pushback. But it was hardly anything more than just a little inconvenience. I still had more than eight months to complete the gym circuit, and all that did was give me time to think of my route. I decided that the first thing I should do is go talk to Olympia and talk with her. Then from there…
Well, we’ll see how I’m feeling.
End of Arc Zero: New Trial on Life
Chapter 15
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio, trauma wounds reopened
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence, cares a lot about her family
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life, but still brave
Goomy - Goomy - Full of dragon slug vibes
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart
Banette - Banette - Collected from the Supermart
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - Bread and butter Ice Beams
Chapter Text
Stepping onto the train was an oddly nostalgic feeling. It hadn’t been that long since I’d been on one, but for some reason my time in Alola felt like a long time. Maybe it was just because so much happened there and when I returned.
My destination was Anistar, one of the easternmost cities in Kalos. In the last few days while I was under house arrest- … tent arrest? It was a rather bothersome time, but it gave me time to think and gather information. Adria had actually given me some really good information before I left this morning. Apparently that had been their only masterball, and the only Mewtwo the Yellow family had.
Which was interesting because they admitted that it was theirs, but refuted any knowledge of what it was being used for. They also didn’t elaborate where it came from, but their evasiveness had backfired and Adria actually managed to get her request to investigate approved. Hopefully their not having another Mewtwo was true. Adria had said she was inclined to believe them judging by how upset they were, but she wouldn’t bet her life on it. There were even threats of monetary lawsuits over the loss.
As if I would ever pay them.
Did I think I was above their law? Yeah, I kinda did. Well, I more felt like their laws didn’t apply to me. Which I admit was a bit conceited of me, but I’ve honestly had enough of following dumb rules made by stupid people.
I should reign back this arrogance streak I was on before it bit me.
Anyways, I had been thinking of what to do. My first step was going to be Olympia, and I felt like that was going to be a really long conversation. If she had the time for it, that is. Kalos was still in the midst of this year's Journey, and she might not have time.
She was the seventh Gym Leader in the circuit, but I had no idea how most Trainers did things. Maybe one gym a month? That made the most sense to me, and might be what I did if I had been starting from scratch. Spend one month training and trying to beat the gym, then move to the next and repeat.
And that wasn’t even factoring in the minor gyms. I had bothered Sycamore quite a lot to go into more details of how gyms worked, and how badges and things allowed access to the League. It was something I had wanted to ask him about a while ago, but it slipped my mind.
The League was interesting, as it was its own sort of entity. It was run mostly by former Champions and worked very close to the Association, but was very much separated from them. They had a lot to do with gyms, as the League had to recognize the gym in order for it to hand out badges, though that was apparently easy. The eight major gyms were ones that were recognized by both the League and the Association, as well as the region's government. Three different acting bodies had to approve of them and the acting Gym Leader.
Something else that was a bit surprising, apparently two minor gym badges were the equivalent of an Association approved gym as far as getting to participate in the League was concerned. But you had to have two official badges at the minimum. Which would mean someone could battle twelve minor gyms, and just do two of the easier official gyms.
Which sounds all well and good, until you start looking at the minor gyms. Every city has at least five or six, with Lumiose having over ten. It was no wonder that the League was filled with unqualified Trainers.
It also wasn’t hard to become a minor gym. Sycamore explained that you only needed a building, and to file some paperwork with the League and government. So the only problem was the money for setting up the facilities. It had become a privilege of the wealthy, and many families considered it a great achievement to own a gym. And then they staffed the gym with their children who had just finished their Journey, just so that they can brag that their kid is a Gym Leader.
So they were easy targets for people who just wanted the fame of making it into the League. Apparently just being able to say you participated is a great honor, even if the current way things were run meant pretty much everyone who succeeded on their Journey went to the League. You could get scholarships depending on your performance. To make matters worse, you don’t have to actually own the Pokemon you use in minor gyms, so people can borrow stronger Pokemon from relatives and then trounce a bunch of low difficulty gyms. And they allow this so that the League has plenty of ‘fodder’ to pad it out.
What an absolutely scuffed way to run things.
But even after thinking about it, I wasn’t sure how to fix the situation aside from culling some of the minor gyms and not allowing their badges to count towards the League. They were still necessary for poorer trainers, since beating them had a cash reward and there were no consequences for losing aside from recovery time. They could also be used as great ways to teach Trainers if done right. But I suppose that’s what the schools were supposed to be for? Although not everyone got to attend those. Apparently they cost money.
The League seemed rather apathetic to the whole situation, which is kind of to be expected by a bunch of old retired Trainers. The only reason it ran as well as it did was because there were a few that actually cared, but most just delegated their tasks to the Association. Which led to the current problems.
Ignoring minor gyms, even official gyms had different difficulties to them. There were three different levels you could essentially battle: low, intermediate, and elite. Low and intermediate got you the same basic badge, but it was the high difficulty that got you the star badges. That meant every Gym Leader had at least three teams, though Sycamore said that some Gym Leaders had five.
And I thought I had a lot of Pokemon. But then again, their teams could be as small as just a pair, and the most was a team of six. He wouldn’t give me details on who had what teams, but I also didn’t ask. I already had a rough idea of who had what teams from the games. The question would be if the game team was their low, intermediate, or elite.
Thinking about it honestly made me pretty excited. I wasn’t sure what level I was at, but I was fairly confident that I could beat most, if not all, of the elite difficulty teams. And I had a full team of six. Cara, Rio, Scoly, Dee, Primarina, and either Diancie or Keo. Keo wasn’t quite on the same level as the others, and Diancie was… a bit different from the others, but I was confident she could fight.
Goomy, Mikyu, and Banette weren’t quite there yet. Mikyu and Banette also didn’t seem very interested in battling when I talked to them more about it. At least I think Banette wasn’t interested, since she never spoke. But she nodded along when Mikyu talked about it. I wouldn’t even consider Eevee until after the League, even though she seemed eager to start training.
As I thought about Eevee, I reached back to check on her and she nibbled at my hand in response. She popped out of my hood and onto my shoulder, which caught the attention of some of the younger people on the train. The little fox was a cute and popular choice after all. Most of the train seemed to be younger, mostly Trainers on their Journey or families as far as I could tell.
“I like the train,” Eevee said. “But I’d like it better if I could feel the wind…”
“Maybe you should evolve into a Jolteon or Espeon then? Then you could run really fast,” I said softly, smiling as I scratched under her chin.
“Can I be something that flies?” she asked, pressing her cheek into my hand.
I thought about it for a moment, but then shook my head. “I don’t know of an eeveelution that can fly.”
She had a little frown on her face. “I can be so many things, but I can’t fly?”
I opened my mouth to say something, but paused. A long time ago there had been a leak, saying there was a flying eeveelution planned. “Maybe there is?” I mused. “We can try to find one if you want.”
She just huffed, settling down to lay over my shoulder. “That sounds like too much effort…” she mumbled.
A soft laugh escaped me as I rubbed between her ears. “Just something to keep in mind. We’ve so much to see, and so far to go. Who knows what we’ll find.” Eevee seemed exhausted at just the thought and retreated back into my hood.
The train jerked slightly as it came to a stop. I checked to make sure that we were in Anistar before getting up and exiting the train. This city was honestly quite a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. But then again, on top of being a town with a gym, it also had the Showcase Theater, as well as the Sundial. That was honestly my second reason for coming here.
Something that allegedly came from space, that had something to do with Mega Stones. In the games, you could use it to upgrade your Mega Ring and use it to find Mega Stones. I didn’t have a Mega Ring, but I didn’t really need one since just having the Key Stone was enough to Mega Evolve a Pokemon. I should probably have some sort of accessory made for my Key Stone, rather than just carry it in my pocket like I am now.
That was what Professor Sycamore did, but I didn’t really like that. A bracelet wasn’t really my thing, and I already had one of those. And those mega gloves that some people used kinda looked weird to me. Maybe a necklace? Or I could copy Misty and have some kind of hair tie thing? I don’t know why but that made me think of Lisia’s tiara thing, and for a brief moment I thought about myself wearing that.
A soft chuckle escaped me and I shook my head. I was making my way toward the gym, as I had decided it would be my first stop, and the Sundial would be tomorrow. I wasn’t in a rush. I wondered for a moment if the gym would be like in the game, as an unassuming house with teleport puzzles, but I was disappointed to find it was the same as from the show.
The gym was large, with a domed roof and several gold half ring decorations. Honestly the building was huge, maybe bigger than the one in Laverre. Although the Laverre gym was definitely taller, even if you didn’t count the tree.
Something I found odd was that there was no one around.
Pushing the door open, there was a rather plain looking reception area. I was immediately hit with an intense sense of familiarity. This was a school.
There was also no one at the desk.
Hesitantly I walked forward. This was annoying. I could practically feel my paranoia spiking. It was like a tingling sensation on the back of my neck. The incident with the Association had frazzled me quite a bit, I guess. I had to stop and take a few deep breaths to recenter myself.
Which probably looked a bit weird, as I was just sort of standing in the middle of the lobby doing breathing exercises. It had been a while since I had to actually use them, but they helped. I just needed to remain calm and keep a level head. Everything would be fine, right?
Everything had already worked out fine.
Sure, I was stuck in a dead end career.
Sure, I was beaten to death with a bat.
Sure, I was now in another world and had to start from scratch.
Sure, I had been forced into a position that I didn’t want to be in.
Again.
And I just nearly had my brain torn apart at the hands of an unwilling Pokemon under the orders of a psychopath.
I’m spiraling.
Breathe.
“Center yourself,” I muttered, closing my eyes for a moment as I simply took deep breaths.
After taking a few minutes to calm myself I moved up to the desk, confirming there was no one there. I leaned over the counter a bit, trying to see if maybe someone was down below, hiding behind it or something, but no luck there. There were a few slips of paper on the table, but a quick glance told me they were nothing interesting.
I looked around for a moment until I spotted a sign that read ‘Gym Floor’ and headed that way. I’d probably find someone eventually. It’s not like this place could be empty, right?
The signs quickly led to a set of double doors that I pushed open, a hallway that led to another set of double doors. When I opened those it revealed a massive chamber. Stands surrounded the arena, which looked to be some sort of shimmering projection above what looked like the inner workings of a clock. It was rather impressive to look at, but didn’t look very practical for battling.
The stands were empty as far as I could tell, so I walked downwards towards the arena. I could almost imagine how this place must feel when it was in full swing. As I thought, I must be too soon in the circuit to really get the full experience. The gym might not even be open right now.
But hey, no signs, no problem.
I paused when I was finally at the battle area, and it really looked like it was made from light or something. Stepping up onto it, I took the place of where the Trainer would stand and looked across to where the Gym Leader would stand. This was bigger than any battlefield I’d been on yet.
“I was told you’d come,” a voice said, jolting me out of my own imaginings. “Pokemon Expert Jason. The man out of place.”
When I looked over to the side I saw a darker skinned woman, her hair was purple and done up in an interesting design. She had a silver hoop around her shoulders, as well around her wrist that matched the outside of the cape, but the inside looked like a galaxy. “Gym Leader Olympia,” I said with a slight nod. “Sorry for wandering in here, but there’s no one at reception.”
She looked like she was about to say something but stopped, her brow furrowing. “There should be someone…” she mumbled. “Perhaps they have gone to lunch… It’s good you came here.”
“I wanted to see this place in person,” I said with a bit of a smile as I looked back at the arena. I still didn’t think it was practical. “I also wanted to ask you some questions.”
“I have questions, too. Sycamore has told me much. So we’ll both ask things.” She moved over to the side and sat down at a little tea table that I was sure wasn’t there a moment ago.
I nodded as I stepped down from the arena and walked over. “Also, if it helps with your haiku stuff, you can also just call me Jace,” I said with a bit of a smirk as I sat down across from her.
She smiled in return. “Then Jace it shall be. May I ask my questions first? Or would you like to?” There was a teapot that she was now pouring tea from. Again I was sure that wasn’t there a moment ago.
“By all means, please,” I said as I gestured for her to go first.
“You are not from here. Not from this reality. That is what I’ve seen.” She took a sip of her tea, watching me carefully.
I nodded. “Correct. I am from…well, not here.” I did a quick explanation of how I came to be here. She didn’t say anything as I told my short little story.
“That’s interesting. Do you know why you are here? What your purpose is?”
I shook my head. “No. I wasn’t told. The only thing that I have found out is that I am a… Bridge of some sort.”
She arched an eyebrow at me, so I decided to explain what I had found out. Once I was done with my explanation she had quite a thoughtful look on her face. “So you are a bridge… That is interesting. I’ve not heard that term.”
Shrugging, I leaned back in my chair a bit. “I’ll be told eventually.”
She took another sip of her tea and nodded. “My final question.” She gave me a rather warm smile. “How can I help you today? I will do my best.”
A snort of a laugh escaped me and I nodded. “Alright. Thank you... I do have quite a few more than you did.”
I spent the next few hours conversing with Olympia, asking her all the questions that I had. It wouldn’t have taken so long if she wasn’t insistent on that odd speech quirk of hers. But I actually found it really amusing rather than annoying, so I didn’t complain. It was impressive.
The first and most important being how to prevent the psychic control that my Pokemon had been subjected to. Her answer was a bit disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. You just have to power through it, and build up a sort of tolerance to it.
Apparently Trainers are bound to run into numerous weak psychic Pokemon on their journey, and so they will slowly build up the necessary resistance. That was something that my training had not accounted for and could be seen as a flaw. Only Keo had faced a psychic Pokemon, so it was rather easy for the Mewtwo to initially overpower all of us. However, due to the training, all of the Pokemon had vast, dense energy reserves and were able to exert a lot of force.
My next question was about future events, but she just shook her head. Her visions were sporadic and unreliable due to the future constantly changing. And she said she couldn’t see mine, due to the amount of dark energy within me. She explained that she could see the future of others that interacted with someone she believed was me, but I was just a sort of dark smudge in the vision rather than an actual person. And those that had a lot of interaction or spent a lot of time around me became cloudy and unreadable. It seemed she had been doing a lot of trying to see around me and my future.
So the future of those that met me could be seen, but mine couldn’t, nor could those who spent a lot of time with me.
I questioned why that was, since beneficial things are supposed to ignore type immunity, but she just claimed that seeing the future was considered neutral. Apparently because it could show good or bad things, it wasn’t considered good. Which sounded like bullshit to me, but she was the expert psychic.
She also revealed that there were odd energies swirling around me. My dark energy was being channeled into the area around, giving me a strange aura the likes she had never seen. It was like it was reaching out to the world around me and doing something. She couldn’t tell what it was doing, but it was as if it was protecting me from something. But it made me and the things around me muddled to her psychic energy.
Which led me into my next question, about humans having energy types. She confirmed that it was indeed a thing, though fairly rare. Of all the theories about how it happened, genetic mutations seemed like the most likely of them all. This mutation could come about randomly, from interspecies mingling, or from a bloodline gift from some legendary Pokemon. Bloodline gift was a rather interesting concept. Of course the energy type would be inherited by their children, which is why those with psychic powers tended to have children with psychic powers. Sure it could crop up seemingly randomly in a child, but it was usually discovered if anyone looked that someone in the family line was also a psychic.
Psychic was also the most common energy type a human could have. When I asked her why, she wasn’t sure. She believed it had something to do with the fact that it was the easiest energy type to identify in a human, and there were entire families dedicated to collecting psychics. She didn’t use the word collecting, but that’s clearly what it was from the way she described it.
It was quiet for a time after that as I considered things. This trip hadn’t been entirely helpful, but at least there were some bits of interesting information.
Then I turned the conversation towards something that I knew would be uncomfortable. “How did the Director get away with all of that when you’re around?”
She stopped, holding her tea cup in the air as she frowned. “I have no excuse. I don’t know how he did it. My vision was blocked…”
I frowned a bit as I looked at her. It was clear from her expression that it troubled her, and I could only imagine how much regret she probably felt. “So there are ways to block and twist the vision of psychics...”
“That Mewtwo is strong. Or should I say limited? It’s highly focused.” She took a sip of her tea before putting the now empty cup down. “Physically weak. But it’s energy is dense. And I can’t find it…”
“Well it was able to hide from you all this time,” I said as I gestured vaguely. “Why would that change?”
Her brow furrowed a bit as she seemed to think on this before nodding. “Yes, that is very true.” She paused. “Do you think it’s dangerous? Will it be a threat?”
I wanted to immediately say no, but the fact is that I didn’t know. After a moment I sighed and shook my head. “I’ve no idea. I’d like to think no. That everything will be fine. But I don’t know them, so it’s just wishful thinking.” I leaned back in my chair. “Abused children have varied reactions when they are finally free of their tormentors.”
“You think it’s a child? You said that you don’t know them. What makes you think that?” She started to pour herself another cup of tea. While her statement clearly wasn’t meant to be condescending, it still bothered me a bit.
I was a bit annoyed at her question, but I supposed I didn’t make that much sense. “Perhaps not a child in the sense that most people think… Pokemon mature rapidly through their adolescence, unlike humans. So by Pokemon standards, perhaps it’s not a child.” I waved a hand vaguely. “I’m getting off topic.”
She made a gesture for me to continue.
“My point is that its actions will be hard to predict. It might simply be relieved that its tormentor is gone and be at peace, or more likely, without some kind of mental help, it will spiral into extreme anxiety and paranoia. It might lash out violently, or it might go into reclusion and shun any sort of contact.” I realized that I was fiddling with the edge of my coat, and I clasped my hands together in my lap to stop.
“But will it be a threat? Is there cause to be worried? Or will it be fine?” She took a sip of tea after speaking.
I just stared at her for a moment. “You’re talking in circles,” I said with a sigh as I stood up. “Like I said. I don’t know. I have no way of knowing. I don’t think even the Mewtwo knows.”
“Are you leaving now?” she asked with a bit of a smile. “You’re not going to challenge me? I’m prepared for battle.” There was a sort of mischievous glint in her eye.
I paused, hesitating for a moment. I would have to fight her sooner or later, and doing so now would save me a trip. But was I ready for that? Was everyone else ready for that? Eventually, I nodded. “Yes… I think it would be good to try now. If I lose, I can just try again later.” There were no restrictions against trying gyms again.
“Excellent!” I jolted as a man suddenly crawled out from a small hatch in the floor. “Please designate the team you will be fighting with.” This man looked… extremely familiar, but I brushed off that thought as it wasn’t possible.
“Since this is a gym, I can challenge with as many as I want, right?” They both nodded, and I reached into my coat, touching the pokeballs that I had. There were a few ways to do this, and I was considering what the best one would be. Olympia had four Pokemon that I knew of. Two Meowstic, a Slowking, and a Sigilyph.
But the question was; how does a leader's elite team match up to the Elite Four? Or to a Totem?
Sure, I could probably tire out her entire team if I used six, but where was the fun in that? “I’ll use a Lucario, a Scolipede, and a Primarina.” Let’s see how Team Speed Shell did against a Gym Leader.
Stepping up onto the platform that I had been on earlier, Olympia was already standing across from me. I glanced back at the table, which was now gone. Was she a psychic or a magician? “Then we shall match you,” she said as she pulled a pokeball from her cape. “Three on three this match shall be. For an Elite badge,” this was said towards the Referee, who nodded as he moved to his position.
I pulled out my phone to start the recording before glancing to see if she did the same. She just smiled and gestured around. My brow furrowed, but I did look around and could see several cameras. “Ah. I see…” So they recorded gym battles… good to know.
The referee took a deep breath as he straightened up. “This is an official gym battle between the Gym Leader Olympia, and the Pokemon Expert Jason,” he announced, pointing out both sides. His voice was amplified, so I figured there were also speakers around the gym. “Three versus three. Both sides may swap Pokemon freely. I or the Trainer will determine if a Pokemon is unable to continue battling. A Pokemon that leaves the battlefield must return as quickly as possible, or be counted as knocked out. The Gym Leader will reveal their Pokemon first. Gym Leader, if you are ready, please release your first Pokemon.”
She gave a nod. “Go!” she called out as she threw a pokeball. I expected her to say more, but was surprised that that was it. The Pokemon that appeared was one I was familiar with; Slowking. I could see its brow furrow as it looked back at Olympia, its eyes glinting pink as it had a silent conversation with her.
I briefly considered sending out Primarina to negate the water advantage, but that wasn’t the point of me limiting myself. So I decided instead to even out the type advantage. Once Scoly appeared in front of me, apparently both surprised and eager to be chosen first, the Referee nodded and raised his hand. “Begin!” he called as he dropped his hand.
“Horns,” I said before Scoly had a chance to curl up. I hadn’t taken the time to go over possible battle strategies beforehand because I didn’t originally plan to battle the gym. But this would be a great chance to also see how well they adapt.
Scoly had already hopped into the air slightly in order to roll up when she heard my order, and didn’t start to charge up her spin after curling up. Instead she immediately rolled forward at the Slowking using Extreme Speed.
The crowned Pokemon seemed to just observe the rapidly approaching Pokemon for a moment. Clearly it wasn’t taking Scoly seriously. Since I had said I wanted the Elite badge, this was a Pokemon from Olympia’s strongest team. It didn’t move, but its eyes flashed pink and Scoly was lifted slightly off the ground.
I frowned a bit, a brief moment of worry coming to mind as I wondered how someone was even supposed to counter something like that, until I realized something.
The Slowking realised it at the same moment, as its hands suddenly shot forward and it tried to use more strength. But Scoly’s forward momentum hadn’t slowed even a little. She sprang from her ball form, her horns busting into that yellow green of bug type energy, with a swirling compliment of purple.
She didn’t hesitate to slam her energy coated horns straight into the Slowking’s face. I was always impressed at how good Scoly was at taking advantage of momentum and using her weight efficiently.
The Slowking was flattened into the ground from the blow, and it looked like the energy floor actually cracked.
What she did next surprised me a bit as she began to just rapidly fire Pin Missile’s at point blank. But the large needles were being suspended in the air, inches from hitting the Slowking who had a rather frustrated look on its face. “I told you to be serious,” Olympia said with a sigh. I guess she dropped her speech pattern during battle?
Scoly wasn’t letting up, firing more and more until I couldn’t see the other Pokemon anymore due to the blanket of little missiles. Then she suddenly leapt upward and… okay, well I guess that was one way to do it. She landed on the makeshift wall of pin missiles and forced them down with her weight.
I could only imagine how much it must have hurt to have those spiky needles slammed into you by something weighing more than six hundred pounds. And that’s not even taking into account the actual bug also slamming into you. I actually winced at the thought.
For a moment I thought the fight might be over until I saw Scoly being covered in a soft pink light and begin lifting off the ground. The Slowking was slowly standing up, a rather frustrated expression on its face as it continued to lift the large bug. It was clearly struggling with the weight, but the fact it could lift her was impressive.
The large bug was wiggling, her legs flailing as she was trying to grab onto anything. “Don’t like this!” she announced.
There was a soft laugh from the Slowking as it continued to lift her up. Judging from the expression that Scoly had, it was talking to her and wasn’t being nice. With some effort, the Slowking made the absolute biggest mistake possible as it threw Scoly upwards as hard as it could.
“Oh…” I said softly, glad that what was about to happen was over there, and not close to me. “Olympia, you might want to step back.” She gave me a puzzled look, as did the Slowking.
Scoly hit the very high ceiling, but rather than immediately come back down, she clung to the rafters for a moment. Even from here, I could see she was mad. I would have to ask her later what the Slowking had said to her. The metal beam she was clinging to actually buckled slightly from the force she leapt off of it.
The crowned Pokemon, as if sensing the danger it was now in, turned its attention back to Scoly and put its hands up, the shimmering wall of the Protect move coming into life. Just past the Slowking, I saw the way Olympia’s eyes widened before she turned and dove backwards. Apparently she’d gotten a glimpse of the future.
As the bug rocketed down, Scoly screamed out what was probably her favorite move. “Meteor Horn!”
That Protect didn’t do a damn thing. Well, maybe it bled off enough of the force to mitigate some of the damage, but it for sure didn’t stop it. A good portion of the arena shattered, and shards were sent flying. Thankfully they dissipated quickly into nothing before going very far, or else that would have been dangerous.
Scoly leapt out of the hole, taking a few wobbly steps back. Her recovery time from using that move was getting much better, but it still staggered her. There was a groan from the hole made, and I heard a muffled, “Ow…”
Olympia stepped back up into position, looking down into the hole. I couldn’t quite see inside it from where I was due to the spider web of cracks all throughout the field that were slowly healing. Having an arena that could repair itself probably saved a lot of time and money.
The referee raised a hand upwards. “Slowking is unable to battle.” It looked like the Slowking was trying to get out of the hole, but was clearly struggling to move. I could see clear imprints on its chest where Scoly had hit, and one of the horns on the crown had snapped off.
“Maybe now you’ll learn,” Olympia said with a frown. “You’ve grown far too arrogant. Just because you’re strong.”
There was a frustrated look on the Slowking’s face, and it looked like it was about to argue, but its expression fell and then it nodded.
I reached into my coat and pulled a pokeball, tossing it to the side. “Dee, go and treat them,” I said as soon as she was out. She gave me a slight bow before jogging over to the other side of the field.
“Thank you,” Olympia said with a smile. “Go on.” She gave the Slowking a slight shove over to the side.
They didn’t look happy about it, but they moved off to the side to let Dee look them over and heal them.
I nodded before turning my attention to the wobbly bug. “Good job, Scoly,” I called out, and she gave me a rather dopey, happy expression. Maybe I should discourage her from using that move too often. It wouldn’t be good if two people in our family had head injuries.
“Gym Leader Olympia, please send out your next Pokemon,” the Referee said.
Olympia glanced over at Slowking being treated, and then at the referee, before looking back at me. “You’ll have to forgive me for underestimating you.”
I smiled a bit. “It’s fine,” I said as I returned Scoly. “Most people do.” I tossed out another pokeball, which she matched. Scoly could still fight, but I wanted everyone to gain experience in real fights.
On my side, Primarina appeared, letting out a rather excited noise of, “Ohh! My turn!” She’d gotten a lot more upbeat and playful since she evolved. Or maybe it was from spending time with Alma and all of those other Primarina? Either way, it was a good thing.
On the other side appeared a mostly white feline Pokemon, with blue accents. The Meowstic’s eyes immediately flashed with pink energy as it used a psychic move. Considering nothing happened, I assumed it was some sort of buff. Probably Calm Mind.
Primarina responded with an Aqua Ring. “Sub won’t work,” I warned, since if this was the same Meowstic from the game, she would have the Infiltrator ability that allowed her to bypass most damage blocking moves. Primarina didn’t respond, instead suddenly blasting a highly pressurized jet of water at the Meowstic.
It sidestepped the stream with ease, and then jumped over the stream as Primarina swept it to the side to follow. The feline's eyes were glowing with a soft pink light as it stared at the water shooting seal. It was predicting the future and moving out of the way of the attack before it got anywhere near it. Or was it reading Primarina’s mind, and knew where she was planning to attack?
I wanted to see if Primarina would realize what was going on, but from looking at her it was clear she was just getting frustrated as she continued to shoot jets of water. “They can see your attacks coming,” I said, which caused her to pause.
“She can see the future?” she questioned.
“Probably. You’re going to have to do something that she can’t avoid, even if she sees it coming.” A bit of a smirk came onto my face, as I made a suggestion, “Try something with a lot of area coverage.”
I wasn’t sure what Primarina would do, but she didn’t hesitate to listen. The Meowstic’s steps faltered a bit, apparently seeing what was about to happen and unsure of how to react to it. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t have enough time to formulate a plan as Primarina raised herself up on her trail, and began to sing softly as bubbles began to rapidly fill the space around. The bubbles began to rapidly fill not just the arena, but the area around it.
And these weren’t small bubbles, either. Most bubbles were at least a foot in diameter, but ranged to as small as a few inches and the largest ones were bigger than Primarina. I was actually really surprised she was able to make this many bubbles so quickly. Sure, their line was supposed to be bubble focused, but this was… I realized what this was. This was Sparkling Aria.
I felt an odd energy from the Z-Bracelet that drew my attention. The Primarium was shining. For a fraction of a second it was as if it had a will. As if it wanted something. Like it wanted to be used. I quickly removed the bracelet and shoved it into my bag.
Primarina’s voice had grown quite loud now, and several of the bubbles had begun to coalesce. The Meowstic looked to be stunned, as did Olympia. The bubbles caused the lights of the room to shine and shimmer in all sorts of colors. It was honestly a mesmerizing sight.
And then the Meowstic exploded. It had reached out curiously to one of the bubbles, and it had exploded as if it was full of extremely pressurized water. The force of the blast had launched it several feet to the side, and it passed harmlessly through several bubbles before it collided with another charged bubble that burst in a similar manner.
I eyed one of the nearby bubbles warily. So apparently some of these were water bombs? That wasn’t quite what I knew the move to be, but I guess it made sense. “What the heck did Alma teach you?” I muttered.
Primarina just sang louder in response, a clearly pleased expression on her face. The explosive force of some of the bubbles had apparently broken Olympia and her Meowstic out of their trance as they refocused.
Before it really had a chance to regain its balance, bubbles began rushing towards the Meowstic. Its eyes flashed into a bright pink as it began dodging and striking out at bubbles with energy. After a moment of watching, I realized it couldn’t tell what bubbles were pressurized and which ones weren’t. I guess because Primarina didn’t know. She was treating them all like they could explode, even if they popped harmlessly.
It was clear that the Meowstic was panicking, and not taking stock of its situation. All it had to do was use a wide range move to eliminate the bubbles, and attack Primarina. But instead it was too focused on just not getting hit. It flinched every time a bubble struck it, but more often than not nothing happened. However occasionally the bubble would explode and stagger it, which usually lead to several more bubbles making contact.
Glancing at Olympia, she looked focused. She was trying to help the little feline dodge? So this was an oversight by both Pokemon and Trainer.
This assault wasn’t going to end anytime soon, as Primarina’s voice was just creating more and more bubbles, launching them at the other Pokemon. But she would run out of energy soon. I could see sweat forming on her, although her voice never faltered.
Suddenly there was a rush of electricity that zipped around the battlefield, popping practically every bubble and halting the singing. I saw Primarina's body lock up from paralysis. The Meowstic had just used Thunder Wave.
Electricity crackled around the feline, which seemed to be amplified by the fact that it was sopping wet. Primarina used another Aqua Jet to try and hit the cat, but it easily sidestepped and then shot back with a bolt of lightning.
Primarina cried out in pain and surprise. This was probably her first time being hit with an attack she was weak to. And it was clearly too much for her. She had become a sort of glass cannon, which was usually fine since she had good mobility, but the paralysis was hindering her.
I returned her, just before a second bolt struck the ground she had been in. The Meowstic looked pissed. Clearly it hadn’t liked getting soaked and ping ponged around. “Primarina is out,” I declared before sending her out to the side so that Dee could look her over.
“Primarina is no longer able to battle!” the Referee called.
I watched as Dee started to help Primarina, who looked rather rough just from a single Thunderbolt. The second one would have probably taken her out. Especially since the first one had been strong enough to flat out shatter her Aqua Ring. That was a good thing to know, moves like that could be broken. “Good fight, Primarina,” I said and gave her a thumbs up.
She returned the gesture with one of her flippers, which made me smile.
I briefly wondered if I should send out Cara instead of Rio, since I had only declared a Lucario as my third option and didn’t specify which, technically both were an option.
As much as I wanted to give Cara more experience fighting psychic Pokemon, she was still rather frazzled from the event a few days ago. So it probably wasn’t a good idea to send her out right now into a situation where she might be overpowered again. So I sent out Rio.
She seemed a bit surprised that I had chosen her, but her surprise almost instantly melted into excitement as she stood up straight and shifted into a fighting stance.
I caught a glimpse of Olympia’s hesitation, clearly debating whether to swap Pokemon, or see how this went. However she didn’t have time to decide as Rio dashed across the arena. She was so close to being able to use Extreme Speed, but that didn’t mean she was slow.
The way the Meowstic’s eyes widened, it clearly saw the attack coming but wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way of the steel energy coated paw. Something I realized lately was that Rio usually used Meteor Mash rather than Metal Claw, and since Meteor Mash raised attack strength, all of her hits would get stronger the more she fought.
Unfortunately the Meowstic was lifted off the ground from the blow, and Rio wasted no time and delivered a steel coated foot to its side.
As the feline skipped across the battlefield floor and over the edge I had a thought. Maybe Rio was the uh… wrong choice to send after the poor cat. First she was practically drowned, and now she was being knocked around like a punching bag.
Olympia apparently had a similar thought as she shook her head. “Okay… Meowstic is out…” she mumbled.
The referee raised a hand. “Meowstic is unable to battle!”
“Dee?” I looked over at the pink Pokemon who was already rushing around the arena towards the little cat. “Ah. Good.”
Before I had the chance to say or do anything else, Olympia sent out her third Pokemon. It was probably one of the strangest Pokemon I had seen. It was a multicolored totem-like thing, with a black head with a single cyan eyespot. Its body had a black zigzag pattern surrounded by green and two more of those eyespots. Its…wings and tail were mostly yellow, with blue and red coloring on its feathers. Sigilyph was such an interesting looking thing.
Olympia had an apologetic look on her face. “I apologize. Most Trainers cannot stand this. Try not to pass out.”
There was a rather sudden rush of force and Gravity increased. That was interesting. Rio looked around, probably trying to spot Diancie, but then she realized who had done that. I was about to speak, but Rio beat me to it. “Is that all?” She looked over at Sigilyph and Olympia. She started to talk towards the odd totem-like Pokemon.
I wondered briefly why Gravity affected me, since it was a psychic type move. Maybe it wasn’t affecting me directly? That was the only thing that I could think of for a reason. So you could bypass energy immunity by affecting things in a different way? I didn’t know enough about how the move Gravity worked to be able to figure it out. A question for others, since my knowledge ability didn’t tell me. Actually, since I was here. “Hey, here’s another question… Why does Gravity affect me, anyways? Shouldn’t I be immune?” I asked, looking over at Olympia. Despite my dark energy nature, she seemed to expect me to be affected.
“How-” her words were cut off as Rio delivered an absolutely devastating haymaker coated in steel energy into Sigilyph.
I just gave her a smile in response, not about to admit my training method while being recorded. It wasn’t like I was being secretive about it, and I’d probably tell people if they asked, but it was one thing to discuss it in private and another to publicize it.
“The move Gravity affects the world around us, not individual people or Pokemon,” she explained. I realized that even she and the referee were struggling under the force of the move. But this wasn’t even to the strength of Diancie’s Gravity, so Rio and I were just fine.
So the move was actually influencing literal Gravity. That made the move much stronger than I thought if it could alter the laws of physics. Originally I had thought that it was just some sort of pressure exuded by the psychic energy, but if it affected me then that meant it wasn’t the energy doing it. Instead it was applied to something else that caused gravity to increase. All this meant that energy could actually change the laws of physics. Or maybe the laws of physics were different in this world? I honestly hadn’t done any research on that. Might be a good idea to take a look and make sure the speed of light was the same. “Interesting…”
While I was thinking, Rio was attempting to strike the Sigilyph again. It was actually quite fast, and judging by the light blue and pink energy swirling around it, it was augmenting its speed with both flying and psychic energy to increase its speed. Unfortunately that was all that it could do as Rio wasn’t giving it a chance to counter attack.
Every now and then it brought up a shimmering wall in an attempt to stop her, but they shattered after two moves at most. This was actually a good way for Rio to let out her emotions. She had been rather distant towards me since the incident, probably out of embarrassment from her outburst during the previous incident. I tried to talk to her, but she was avoiding me.
It was really hard to not just force her to talk to me, but that tended to backfire if not done at the correct time and in the right way. I couldn’t just brush it off like it wasn’t a big deal, because for her it might be. It might have been a slip of the tongue, or it might have been her genuine feelings. Cara hadn’t commented on it, but she’d also been quiet. She wasn’t avoiding me, but she wasn’t as talkative.
Maybe we needed a few weeks outside of civilization to refocus ourselves. It’s funny that I used to hate camping, but now it’s my default. Maybe I should look into getting a house? I wonder how much that would cost? I’d never owned a house, but I had my condo. I wonder what happened to it? And all my belongings?
Focus.
It doesn’t matter.
Rio finally made another solid connection that slammed the Sigilyph into the ground and it didn’t get back up.
“Sigilyph is unable to battle!” The Referee announced. “The winner is Pokemon Expert Jason!”
I blinked. I had really zoned out for that entire fight. That was bad. I rubbed my face and looked over at Rio who was still in a fighting stance, breathing hard. As I walked over to her I pulled out my phone and ended the recording. I also noticed that I had a notification that I’d received ten thousand dollars for beating the gym. She was still focused on the Sigilyph as if she hadn’t realized the fight was over when I got there. I placed my hand on her head, causing her to jolt slightly and look up at me. “Good job,” I said, smiling as I rubbed the top of her head.
She looked away, a rather embarrassed look on her face. She just nodded and I continued to pet her head. It was fine if she didn’t want to talk about it, I just had to be there for her when she wanted to and let her know that things were fine.
“Congratulations,” Olympia said as she came up to us. I could see Dee already helping the Sigilyph, though it looked more like Rio had just exhausted it rather than beating it to a pulp. “You have battled well today. And here’s your reward.” She held out a small pin. It was mostly gold in the shape of wisping smoke, with several purple pearl beads, and one large one at the bottom. The bottom pearl was inlaid into a gold star.
I looked at it for a moment, thinking about the battle. It was about as difficult as a Trial? A big part of it was that Slowking was extremely arrogant, and the Meowstic was rather easily overwhelmed. “That was your Elite team, right?” I asked after taking the badge and putting it in my bag. I didn’t have any special case or anything to put it in yet. I’d need to get one.
The smile she had been wearing faulted a bit. “Yes.”
I put up my hands. “Sorry. I was just… I was a bit surprised. It was a good fight, but I was kind of expecting to get floored.”
She stared at me for a moment before she nodded. “That was partially my fault. I underestimated you in every fight. I didn’t think you were already at the level of an Elite Trainer, but I guess you aren’t an Expert for no reason.”
I chuckled softly before shrugging. “My Pokemon still need battle experience.”
Olympia nodded to that. “They do not give off the aura of battle hardened Pokemon, which would normally be the case of a Pokemon that strong.”
“So that’s why people keep underestimating us…” I mumbled as I looked down at Rio, and she looked up at me with a puzzled expression. She sure didn’t give off any sort of aura that I could feel. “That’s dumb,” I said.
Rio nodded. “Very dumb.” I had tried to emphasize taking every fight seriously, no matter your opponent. That was an extremely basic concept in sports. It doesn’t matter who you’re against, you have to treat them like a serious threat because all it takes is them getting lucky and you lose.
Olympia giggled softly and shook her head. “Well, I suppose I must instill that in my teams better.”
I nodded a bit before I looked at her, my eyes narrowing a bit. “Since you’re talking normally, I wanted to ask… Were you using your future sight to be able to make sure you got each one correct?”
She just smiled and didn’t answer, instead she waved her hand to dismiss me. “Have a good day, Jace. This has been entertaining. The League should be fun.” With that, she turned and walked away, returning her Pokemon as she did.
When I returned Dee and Primarina, I looked back only to see that she was gone. I frowned slightly. “More a magician than a psychic,” I said with a slight laugh. “Let’s head on out.”
Rio nodded and followed me as I walked back the way I came and into the long hallway. She let out a rather heavy sigh that caused me to stop walking. “I hate being weak…” she mumbled.
I started to run her head again. “You’re getting stronger so fast. That Pokemon couldn’t even touch you.”
“But I still couldn’t do anything. When mama… When you…” She was staring at the ground, struggling to fight back tears.
I knelt down a bit, putting my arms around her and pulling her in close. “I know… That jerk caught us off guard… But it’s something we can prepare for. Something that we can train against.”
She nodded, pressing into me and gripping onto my coat in an almost identical way to how Cara had. “I was just… I was so scared…” She was taking deep breaths as she spoke. “I’ve never been so scared…”
“I know.” I continued to gently rub her head. “But we were too strong for them. All that training paid off and we beat them.”
She nodded, falling silent.
“Did I miss the fight?” a sudden voice mumbled from my shoulder and Eevee crawled out of my hood. “Aw… I did, didn’t I…”
I chuckled a bit as I reached up and scratched under the little foxes chin. “You should have told me you wanted to watch. I would have woken you up.”
She huffed. “Of course I want to watch.”
Rio giggled a bit as she looked up. “Well, Team Speed Shell won easily. So it was hardly a fight.”
I tapped her on the nose. “Don’t say that. Even you’re tired after that fight.”
She puffed at my finger as if trying to blow it away. “But I didn’t get hit. Even you said so.”
“Right. But that wasn’t easy, because it was able to defend for a very long time. Could you have done that?” I asked, ruffling the top of her head as I stood up.
Her mouth opened as she was about to say something, but stopped and frowned at me. She folded her arms. “I still didn’t get hit.”
“Which is good, because that’s what you’re supposed to do.” I rubbed under her chin to make her look up a bit. “You’re supposed to block and deflect attacks. And while you weren’t getting attacked in that fight, I’ve seen how you’ve been training. I’m going to have to change things up again for all of you.”
Rio let out a soft groan. “Fine.” She opened my coat and returned to her Pokeball.
I laughed and shook my head. “Silly dog…” But at least she had shaken off some of what was bothering her.
Eevee agreed before yawning, and returning back into my hood.
When I made my way back out into the main entry room, it was still empty. Or at least it was at first. As I walked, I looked over at the desk and spotted a pink thing peering over it, its little eyes locked on me.
Without really thinking about it, I reached into the pouch on my bag and pulled out a pokebean. “Want a snack?” I asked with a bit of a smile.
It just stared at me.
After a moment I walked over. It ducked a bit more behind the desk, but not enough that it couldn’t see me. I placed the bean down and took a few steps back.
It seemed to hesitate for a moment before standing up a bit more and struggled to get onto the table, fumbling to claim the bean. It sat there, staring at me as it began munching on the snack.
“Why are you following me?” I asked, looking it over. It was the first time that I had gotten a good look at it. It had always been far away, or I’d only caught glimpses of it. It looked… rough. Its fur was messy and unkempt, covered in splotches of dirt and mud.
It didn’t answer, just absentmindedly eating the bean and not breaking eye contact. The more I looked, the more I got a sense of some sort of familiarity. Like I knew this Pokemon.
Then I had a chilling thought.
What if this was my Pokemon? What if I hadn’t physically come over, and possessed someone? Someone that looked like me, or was changed to look like me? Maybe I was actually crazy and the whole other world wasn’t real and was actually something that my strange knowledge power made up in order to justify things?
I didn’t like this train of thought and had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself down. I was starting to get really close to having an anxiety attack… It had been years since I had one of those. The last one had been when I had received that letter from the school administration saying that I was demoted. That I wouldn’t be a counselor anymore, and would go back to being a substitute.
Pushing all that down took so much effort…but I had to. I had to keep myself emotionally stable. None of that mattered, as I was now who I was. Whoever I was previously didn’t matter. If I existed here in some form, then I would have to figure that out.
What mattered right now, is that I knew this Espurr. I know them. I know her. Then I suddenly realized why. She was trying to talk to me. Psychically. But my dark energy was muddling it and making it difficult to hear her. Had she been trying to talk to me every time we saw each other? Is that why she felt so familiar? I didn’t know as I wasn’t hearing her words. What I did get was her name. “Essy, come here,” I said softly as I crouched down.
Bean still in her little hands, she stood up and came forward, hopping down from the desk before coming to a stop in front of me. She tilted her head a bit and I had to focus really hard to hear what she said, “-beans?”
I blinked, my brow furrowing a bit as I tried to figure out what she was trying to say. “You want more beans?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Okay, at least I had figured out how to open up a way she could communicate. “You can have more beans. But can you repeat what you said? I haven’t been able to hear you.”
Her head tilted to the other side. “You feel weird,” was her response.
I stared at her for a moment and then nodded. “It’s because I’m full of dark energy.”
She just stared at me, and I had no idea if she understood or not.
“I couldn’t hear you, but now I can,” I tried to explain, but judging from her vacant expression she probably didn’t get it. “Your name is Essy, yes?”
She nodded. “I am Essy.”
“And why have you been following me, Essy?” I asked again.
There was a moment of pause before she held up the mostly eaten pokebean in her hands. “Bean.”
I smiled a bit. “Yes, that’s the pokebean I gave you. Is that why you followed me?” It wouldn’t quite make sense, unless she saw some sort of future where she saw that following me got her pokebeans.
She looked down at the bean, her brow furrowed. “Bean…” She started to munch on the bean again.
Unfortunately it looked like I wasn’t going to get an answer anytime soon. “Alright…” I sighed a bit as I stood back up. “Well, Essy, I’m going to go now. I’ll see you around, I’m sure.”
I made my way out, and started to head towards the Pokecenter. As I did, an occasional glance backwards showed that the little feline was close behind, looking around as she followed. I noticed quite a few people looking over and pointing at the little cat.
Out front of the Pokecenter I stopped and turned around, Essy running into my leg as she hadn’t realized I stopped. “Are you just going to keep following me?” I asked with a bit of a smile.
She stared up at me. “Mom said to follow you, cus you’re nice.”
I blinked a few times and looked down at her. “Your mom told you to follow me?”
She shook her head. Then she stopped, and then nodded.
“Do you mean the Earth Mother?” I asked, wondering if that was the answer.
She shook her head. “No. My mom.”
That was just even more confusing… “Where’s your mom now?”
Her head tilted to the side and she again didn’t answer. I wondered if it was actually the Earth mother who told her? Though I don’t really know how in either case I would be the optimal choice. Sure, I’d take care of her without hesitation, but it’s a bit surprising.
“Alright.” I crouched down and held out my hands. “Let's get you cleaned, alright? And then you can have another bean.”
A big smile appeared on her small mouth. “Beans.”
Chapter 16
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Goomy - Goomy - Full of dragon slug vibes
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart
Banette - Banette - Collected from the Supermart
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - Bread and butter Ice Beams
NEW Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
Chapter Text
“Oh? Who’s this?” Nurse Joy asked as I placed Essy down on the table. The Pokecenter was rather empty, with only two other Trainers who were lounging in the waiting area and discussing something. I didn’t usually pay attention to the other people when I came inside a Pokecenter, but they caught my eye because they looked young and were showing off their badges to each other. One of them seemed to have six already, while the other had two. I didn’t recognize any of the shapes, so I guess they were minor gyms.
I paused for a moment as I thought about how to properly word my response to Joy, only slightly distracted by the other people. “A little cat that’s been following me around for months,” I said with a chuckle, placing all of my other pokeballs down onto the tray, though I kept hold of Eevee’s.
She had a smile on her face as she examined the feline. “Well she’s a little cutie. A very interesting color variant. Wild?” she asked. Her Nurse Wigglytuff was helping to situate the little cat and using a washcloth to wipe her down a bit.
I nodded. “She seems very keen on following me, but I haven’t caught her yet.”
Joy nodded in response. “A bit uncommon, but not unheard of for people to bring in wild Pokemon. Psychic Pokemon tend to be very picky about their Trainers, so a bit of stalking is actually quite common.”
My brow furrowed a bit. “Stalking, hm? I hadn’t really thought about it like that.”
Essy was just staring at me with a rather vacant expression while she was being fussed over by the pink balloon Pokemon.
“You can think of it as long term observation from a distance,” she said with a bit of a giggle. “The only type more picky about their Trainer than a psychic is a dragon.”
“She seems young…” Wigglytuff said as the two of them continued their examination. “We’ll give her a proper examination and clean her up.”
“Alright,” I said with a smile and a nod. “I’ll be staying here tonight, so-” I was cut off as Dee burst from her pokeball. I glanced at her. “She can come deliver them to me.” I vaguely gestured at the pink Pokemon.
“Oh!” Joy had a rather large smile on her face. “You’re Jason. I’ve heard so much about you.” It was rather humorous that Dee was the most common reason for me to be recognized.
I watched as the Wigglytuff and Dee happily greeted each other, grasping each other's hands and doing a sort of little dance in place. Joy was watching them with an amused expression when suddenly her brow scrunched a bit. “I heard you’d be doing your circuit this year, but isn’t Anistar a bit of a strange place to start?”
I shrugged a bit. “I had some business with Olympia and wanted to get it out of the way before starting. And…well, challenged her while I was here to save me a trip in the future.” As evidence I pulled out the badge from my bag.
Her eyes widened a bit and she let out a soft gasp. “Oh! An elite badge.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw the other two Trainer’s heads whip in my direction. “Ah. I guess that’s to be expected from a Pokemon Expert, though… I shouldn’t be surprised.” She nodded, mostly just talking to herself. Joy’s were always fun to talk with. She seemed to rummage for a moment behind the counter before giving me a keycard. “Here you are.”
“Thank you,” I said as I took the key. “Now, Essy.” My words got the little cat's eyes to focus on me. “Be good for Nurse Joy, and you can have a pokebean when you’re done, okay?” I wasn’t entirely sure how she would react to an examination, so I was covering my bases with a bribe of treats.
“Beans,” was her response as she put her hands in the air.
“If you keep only ever saying that, I’m gonna start calling you Beans,” I said as I pat her head softly. She just tilted her head as she stared at me.
Joy giggled before picking her up, Dee grabbing the tray of pokeballs. “Alright. This shouldn’t take too long,” she said before heading off towards the back with Dee and the Wigglytuff hot on her heels.
“Ah, wait,” I called out, remembering something important. “One of my Pokemon is newly discovered. It’s a little costumed one.”
Her eyes seemed to sparkle a bit. “Oh! I read the report on that one!” She looked from me to the pokeballs, and then back to me. “Mimikyu, correct?” I nodded. “Don’t worry, all the Joy’s have been notified of their special circumstances.”
I nodded. “Good,” I said before she disappeared through the door. I took a deep breath before making my way down the familiar hallway that contained the rooms. The first thing I did once inside was make sure that Eevee was comfortable on the bed. She opened her eyes for a moment to examine where we were before going back to sleep. I watched her for a moment, gently petting her before putting my bag down on the table and tossing my coat over the chair. Right now all I wanted was a shower so I made my way into the restroom.
When I removed my shirt my reflection caused me to pause. I looked completely fine. I had sworn that I would have had some bruising, but apparently Dee’s healing got rid of all that. However, I still felt bruised. And tired. So damn tired. Had I not been sleeping well and not realizing it? Maybe I should take a month or two off to destress before continuing the circuit… Since I still had months to do it.
Then I looked down at the clothes in my hands. They looked a bit rough. Well, more than a bit rough. No holes yet, but they looked like clothes I’d worn for years, not months. I’d been doing my best to keep them clean and in good shape, but I would be the first to admit that I didn’t treat my clothing with care. I also didn’t have many sets… So I would need to go shopping soon. I should have picked up some clothes in Alola. Some souvenir clothing would have been fun. Something for next time.
I took a quick shower, or at least I had planned to. I ended up spending several minutes just standing under the warm water and enjoying the feel of it. The showers at the research center hadn’t really been comforting or very warm. But I’d been getting used to using lukewarm water. A fire type would be nice.
That was an interesting thought to have as I was drying myself off and getting dressed into cleaner clothes. I guess I was adapting really well to this world. My first thought for conveniences weren’t items, but Pokemon. It was a lot like having friends with superpowers.
I looked down at my hand and then back up at my reflection. I had power as well… but how do I use it? It was energy, but how do I manipulate that? I should have asked Olympia about it. Maybe she would have known…
My thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. Of course, the knocks had just been a courtesy as it soon opened and Dee walked in with a tray. “You know, you’re supposed to wait for a response before entering,” I said with an amused smile.
Dee blinked at me. “But it’s my room, too?”
That caused me to pause before I nodded. “I guess that’s fair.”
“Are you decent?” I heard Nurse Joy ask from somewhere outside the room. “I’m here as well.” That was a bit surprising, and also a bit worrying.
“Yeah.” I leaned a bit out of the bathroom. She had a rather concerned look on her face, holding Essy in her arms. The little feline was asleep. “Something wrong?”
Joy shook her head, both of us watching as Dee entered the room and everyone began popping out of their pokeballs. “Not wrong. Tana, the other Joy, just got a rather… odd phone call while doing the examination.”
Rio sprawled onto the bed, and was laughing at Scoly being unable to get on the bed because she was too big. Cara moved to stand near me, though she didn’t say anything. Primarina, Goomy, Banette, and Keo all piled onto the bed next to Rio as Mikyu raided my bag for her sewing things and dragged it all under the bed. Diancie went for the remote and turned on the television.
I moved over and reached out for the Espurr and Joy let me take her. “Odd call?”
She nodded slowly, looking at Essy. “There was someone demanding the variant Pokemon that had just been brought to the Pokecenter.”
A snort escaped me as I walked over towards the bed. Scoly, Dee, and Diancie had sat on the floor to watch the screen. They had put on the Mystery Dungeon show and it had gotten almost everyone’s attention. “Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.”
“Yeah, she told them that it belonged to someone and then hung up on them.” She sighed a bit as she leaned against the doorframe with crossed arms. “It’s not the first time that that’s happened… and it’s getting more frequent. I don’t know how these people get the nerve to make demands of us.”
“It’s rather ridiculous,” I replied as I walked back into the room and laid the cat down on the bed beside Eevee and Banette before returning to near the door to continue the conversation. “Something similar happened in Alola. Some rich kid demanded I sell them Rio.” The jackal’s head snapped towards us when her name was mentioned.
Joy sighed, shaking her head. “Some people really lack any sort of sense.”
I laughed and nodded. “Too true.” I leaned a bit against the wall and looked over at the sleeping cat near all the others. None of them seemed even the slightest bit phased by the random new member. “So how is she?”
“Ah- Right. Well, she’s fine. A little malnourished, that’s very common to see in wild Pokemon, but otherwise healthy. She’s about three years old, which is… a lot older than we originally thought. We figured less than a year since she’s smaller than average and we thought she was still in her adolescent phase and still growing, but she’s just small.”
“A small bean,” I said with a smile and a nod.
That got a bit of a giggle from Joy. “Yeah. She just needs more consistent food. Mentally she seems a bit… detached. It’s hard to get her to focus on things.”
I nodded slowly as I thought about how vacant her stare looked. “Nothing physically wrong, though?”
She shook her head. “No, she’s healthy. Some old injuries that appear to have healed well, but… I’m just concerned. She was confused when we gave her food, but started eating when she saw others doing it. I fear she’s going to be a difficult case.”
Vaguely I gestured my hand to the menagerie of Pokemon watching television. “I’m used to that.”
A small smile appeared on her face. “Yes, I can see that. As for everyone else…” She looked over the Pokemon for a moment. “We took the liberty of doing a more in depth examination of everyone, since you’ve been out of the region and the event that happened at the Association Branch.” She pointed at Rio, “That Lucario has some lasting damage to her ribs. Nothing serious, but she needs to avoid taking any hits there for at least a few weeks. I don’t know what hit her…but it caused a lot of damage.”
That was a bit concerning… To think that even after so long the Z-Move was still affecting her. “I see… It was a rather hard blow.”
She nodded. “Your Audino is in a similar condition, though it’s more in her arms and shoulders.”
My attention turned to Dee, who quickly avoided my gaze. “I see… I wasn’t aware.”
“Your Scolipede has some evidence of past microfractures in one of her horns. They’ve been healed, and aren’t of any concern,” she continued. “I’m actually not sure how they happened, since they are scattered fairly evenly throughout the back side of her left horn.”
“She did that to herself,” I said with a bit of a laugh that had no humor in it. “It’s a move she calls Meteor Horn.”
A soft scoff noise escaped Joy before she shook her head. “Well, I would suggest she not use it very often. If she uses that move back to back without any healing she’d probably lose a horn.”
I looked over towards the large bug. “You hear that, Scoly? Try to use Meteor Horn sparingly or you might lose a horn.” I knew I couldn’t tell her to not use it, otherwise she’d get upset that her most powerful move was out. And maybe if she used it enough her horns would strengthen enough to not be damaged.
Scoly’s attention was pulled away from the tv in order to look over when her name was called. There was a bit of a frowning expression on her face before she nodded.
Joy nodded a bit in agreement, also knowing the temperament of Pokemon. “Your Goomy is close to evolving.”
That got everyone's attention. “You can tell that?” I asked.
She nodded. “We have some machines that can give us a rough estimate. It’s easier with Pokemon like Goomy that have a long first stage.” In the games they did have to reach a rather high level. “But we can’t tell how close. Probably a few more battles, or a week or two of training? It depends.”
I nodded slowly, quite interested in the fact it was possible to even tell when a Pokemon was getting close. “I see… That’s very good news.” I looked back at Goomy with a smile. “See? Your hard work is paying off.”
She had a rather fierce look on her face as she nodded.
“Your Vulpix has healed quite nicely from her injuries. I’ve never seen a Pokemon that was injured that badly and actually survived… Can I-” she hesitated. “Can I ask what happened?”
I looked back at Keo, wanting to make sure it was okay with her. I got a nod from the little fox, so I turned back to Joy and explained it.
“That’s… Ugh… That’s awful. To think they would abandon her after she managed to survive…” she mumbled.
“I don’t think it was the kid's fault, but the parents,” I explained.
“That makes it worse!” she said with a huff and a flail of her arms.
It was rather interesting to see the composure of a Joy falter. It was starting to happen more often, and I wondered if it was just certain ones or if they were starting to get more comfortable with me. The Joy clan had made it perfectly clear that they were on my side, and all sorts of information got passed between them. I wondered for a moment what they say about me?
“Ugh. Anyways.” She sighed a bit, shaking her head in an attempt to regain some of her professionalism. “Other than that, everyone else is perfectly healthy. It was a treat to get to examine the Mimikyu. It was quite satisfying to find out she’s a bit ticklish.” She nodded a bit with a smile on her face.
One of my brows arched. “She is?” I glanced over towards the bed, and could see two gleaming eyes peer back at the two of us. “That is interesting…” The eyes seemed to retreat further under the bed and I laughed.
Joy laughed as well. “Once you get over the initial shock of what she is and how she moves, especially the noises,” she said with a shudder, “She’s quite cute.”
“She’s adorable,” I agreed, nodding.
She nodded as well. “Alright. That’s all I needed to tell you.”
I smiled a bit and nodded. “Thank you, Nurse Joy.”
Suddenly she had a rather large smile on her face and bowed slightly. “Have a good night, Jason.” With those words, she closed the door.
I stood there for a moment, thinking over the conversation. Rio and Dee still being injured was concerning, but they would heal. I made my way over to the table with my bag. “Alright. How about we all have a treat?” I asked as I pulled out the pokebean bag.
Everyone immediately got excited, and Essy’s eyes snapped open like I had said some sort of magic words. Once everyone had one and a pokeblock, I sat down on the bed and watched the show. I’d not paid too much attention to it last time, simply noting that it was like the Mystery Dungeon series, but now that I was paying attention… It was scarily accurate to the settings in the games. Since it starred real Pokemon, that just made it more interesting. It was clear the Pokemon were being dubbed over, and I wondered if there would be arguments for subbed verses dubbed on some sort of online forums?
This particular show was following a gold rank rescue team composed of a hard working Snivy named Rigatoni, and a glutton of a Raichu named Cinnamin Rol. They lived in a town called Pannacata, located in Streusel Hills. All of the Pokemon seemed to have food names.
It was actually extremely interesting. But there was something that tickled the back of my head. The episodes didn’t really seem to be connected, but there was an overarching plot. Something about a Shadow Lugia. That was a bit concerning. That Shadow Pokemon were something that existed in some way. But it was something about the show itself that was bothering me.
I just couldn’t figure out what it was.
Watching the credits, there was a little ‘Brought to you by Sinnoh International Television’ near the end. I had this odd, nagging feeling like there was something important in Sinnoh. That was where Team Galactic was. Probably one of the most insane teams in the world. When I have the time to go and investigate, I should contact Professor Rowan.
Cara nudged me, and I turned my attention to her. “Hm?”
She smiled a bit and then pointed. Looking over, I saw that everyone had fallen asleep. Scoly had her head laid on the bed, with Dee and Diancie laying against her and Goomy on top of her head. Rio and Primarina were leaning against each other, with Keo and Essy on the canines lap, and Eevee and Banette laying on the seal. Looking down, Mikyu had a hold on my leg, though I could tell she was still working.
It seems I had been lost in thought while we all watched television. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d actually sat and just zoned out like that. Usually when I had spare time I’d play a Pokemon game, but now that I’m living it I guess I have time to do other things. “Can you turn it off?” I asked softly.
She nodded as she got up and retrieved the remote from Diancie, turning it off. Now there was only the sound of soft breathing of several Pokemon. It was almost impressive that none of them snored, though a couple of them did occasionally make noises in their sleep.
I shifted a bit, putting a hand down to wave under the bed. “I’m going to sleep, Mikyu,” I said softly. “You should get some rest, too.”
“I’m almost done,” was her only response, but she did let go of my leg.
With a smile I laid down on the bed, getting as comfortable as I could considering that most of the bed was taken up by a massive seal and a dog. I should get some sort of big bed for the tent. While all the blankets and such were comfortable, there’s something about a bed that just can’t be beat.
Before I had a chance to fully doze off, I felt Cara press her face against my shoulder. I started to gently rub her back as she gave out a heavy sigh. “What’s wrong?”
“I just…” Her fists clenched slightly on my shirt. “I can’t… I can’t get over that I attacked you…”
She was back on this again. It was very up and down, but she seemed to always come back to it and beat herself up. “You have trouble letting things go,” I said with a bit of a chuckle.
I got a huff in response.
“I know it’s hard… but everything’s fine.” I continued rubbing her back, focusing on the spot between her shoulder blades. That seemed to be the place that felt the best since it never failed to get her to relax, and this time was no exception. “I think I know a way to make you feel better. Do you want to hear it?”
“No,” she responded immediately, but I saw her tail starting to wag.
“Are you sure?” I asked, unable to keep a smirk from creeping onto my face. “Because I’m sure it will help.”
“Shut up,” she whined softly.
“You’re a good girl,” I said as I scratched her back. She pressed her face harder into my shoulder and grumbled, but her tail was wagging. She always got so embarrassed when she was praised.
~
When I awoke, the television was on again. I wondered if they make portable tv’s? Everyone seems to enjoy it so much that it might be a good motivator. But… wait. Thinking about it, they don’t have satellites, do they? If they did, they'd have a lot more knowledge of the world. So that meant everything was done through cables and towers, including phones. That was an interesting thought, and something to maybe look into. If my island plan was going to be real, I would need my own sort of antenna.
Sitting up, I looked around. Everyone was still in their same spot, with the exception of Cara, who was sitting beside Rio instead of laying on me. Looking over at a clock in the room, it was nearly noon. “Mmm, I overslept,” I said before yawning.
Dee pat my shoulder slightly. “Everyone got their pokeblocks, but I don’t know what to give- uhm… Essy was it?” She was looking at the little feline.
“Right, I need to go shopping…” Thankfully I had gotten a good amount of money from beating Olympia. “I’ve only got a few more weeks of pokeblocks, and I’m missing a lot to make more… I also need some new clothes.” Dee nodded as I spoke.
“More food might be needed, too. Since we have a new member,” Dee added, looking over at Essy.
Seeing that I was awake, the little feline walked over and flopped over into my lap. Without really thinking, I reached down and started to pet her. “Right. And I’ll need to find out what sort of things she likes… Can you get my bag?”
Dee nodded as she went to the table to retrieve my bag. With a few bits of berries, I did my little test on Essy. She liked sweet, and really hated bitter. So she had a naive nature? I still wasn’t sure if natures were an actual thing, but they seemed to at least hold some sort of weight. Though it was clear they weren’t a tell all or very accurate. Still a good way to help me remember what flavors everyone liked.
I looked over everyone for a moment, finding them all watching the tv. Even Cara seemed interested. Of course a show about Pokemon would interest them. Honestly I know I would have been extremely interested in it myself in my previous life. Well, there were those anime specials, but from what I could see of this show there were multiple variants set in the same world.
“I’m going shopping,” I said as I lifted Essy off of my lap. The little cat stared at me as I set her down beside Eevee. “Does anyone want to come?”
“I will,” Cara said as she stood up.
“Me too,” Dee added with a smile.
No one else seemed to want to go, or more so they all wanted to watch the show. Apparently it was a rerun of some sort of massive crossover movie. I chuckled a bit and nodded. “Alright. We’ll be back in a few hours.” I grabbed my coat and bag before leaving.
As I made my way out, I stopped at the desk to talk to Joy. “I’m going out shopping for a bit, my Pokemon wanted to stay and watch tv, so they’re still in the room. I have their pokeballs, so let me know if they cause any problems.”
She put up a hand to cover the smile on her face. “Oh, I see. Thank you for letting me know. Will you be spending the night again?”
I thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, I want to do something tonight and will probably leave tomorrow.”
“Have a route planned for your circuit?” she asked curiously. So this was probably the same Joy that I had talked to the previous night, unless they all talked to each other about it? How many Joy’s were even here? I had no idea.
“I’m still thinking about it,” I said with a shake of my head. “I’m tempted to go in reverse order,” I said with a rub of my chin. “Which would make Laverre my next stop…”
“We can see if that one woman is alright,” Dee said. I realized I never did check in on Valerie to see if she was alright after the Hydreigon incident.
“Well, that sounds like a plan,” I said as I reached over and rubbed the top of Dee’s head. At least I had my next stop decided.
We said our farewells to Joy and made our way towards the Pokemart. It was snowing softly, adding to the thin layer of snow already covering everything. “I’m surprised you wanted to come,” I said as I nudged Cara.
She huffed a bit. “I don’t… I don’t want you to be out of sight…”
I smiled a bit, laughing softly. “You make it sound like I’m some sort of troublemaker.”
Again she huffed, and Dee covered her mouth to keep herself from giggling. “You do get in trouble a lot,” she retorted.
I blinked, and thought about it for a moment before nodding. “That’s fair.” We all laughed a bit at that.
At the Pokemart it took a few hours to actually finish shopping. And it cost so much more than I thought it would. Apparently at this time in the season, pokeblock ingredients got a lot more expensive. Ended up being thirteen thousand just for another month's worth for all twelve of them and myself. But I would at least get paid twice before I ran out at the end of next month. Food supplies cost another two thousand to make sure I’d have enough food for the same amount of time.
While every day I would be spending in a Pokecenter would make that stretch out, I didn’t want to rely on it. It was good to have more than enough food just in case. Dee asked for a heavier weight harness. The original one had cost over two thousand, and the next step up was five. I felt a bit bad telling her that it would have to wait for our next gym battle, or the end of the month, but we’d put it on our list for the next shopping spree. Especially since she wasn’t even maxed out on the current one. Although she was at eighty five right now, so by the time I had the money she might actually need the next step up, which went all the way up to five hundred.
I didn’t really care about clothes and bought the cheap stuff, but what I wasn’t about to skimp out on was a new pair of boots. The ones I had been wearing were pretty worn out, but they had been cheaper. I actually found the exact same pair for five hundred, which was annoying since I had paid a thousand for them last time. The next pair I bought were two thousand and of much better quality. The rest went to new shirts and pants, as well as undergarments. At the end I was left with two hundred pokebucks.
Maybe I was a bit too loose with my money, but what was the point in having it if you didn’t spend it?
“I don’t like that shirt,” Dee said, her face scrunching a bit.
I laughed, shaking my head. There had been a t-shirt with a bunch of nurse Pokemon on it, as well as two doctors. Apparently it was some sort of show. I had been suggesting I get it, much to the horror of Dee. “But it has an Audino on it,” I teased.
Her face scrunched up even more and Cara was giggling on my other side. “I don’t want to see it. I know that Chansey, and she never took her nursing seriously.”
“Probably why she went into television,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. We were leaving the Pokemart and making our way back to the Pokecenter. The snow had lightened quite a lot and now there were only a few flakes falling. It looked quite nice.
“They should have actually gotten nurses,” she said with a huff.
“They’re just actors. Real nurses would be in Pokecenters or hospitals,” I said as I rubbed her back. It was interesting how much this had actually upset her.
The next words she was about to say weren’t able to escape her mouth as there was a sudden flash ahead of us. I hadn’t even managed to form the questions of ‘Lightning?’ in my head before we heard the explosion.
I didn’t even have time to register what I was seeing before I started running. Smoke was rising in the distance and it wasn’t long before I could see where the fire was. The front of the Pokecenter building was missing.
Without thinking I pulled out the remote and turned off Dee’s weight vest. “Cara, go and help!” I shouted. “Dee-” I turned but she wasn’t there. I skidded to a halt as Cara took off towards the building.
Looking back I saw Dee, frozen in place. The only sign of movement from her was the shaking of her hands and the tears cascading down her face.
“Dee!” I shouted, but she didn’t react. She’d locked up the moment she saw the building. I couldn’t waste time right now, but I couldn’t leave her. “Dee!” I shouted again, but she didn’t react. “Deeno!” Her full name seemed to finally get her attention as she looked at me. “What the fuck have you been training for if you’re just gonna stand there?!” I screamed.
Maybe that was a bit harsh, but it seemed to snap her out of it as she started running. I started running again as well, and she quickly overtook me by using Quick Attack for bursts of speed. The moment I could actually see in the building, the first thing I saw was Cara kicking away Houndour that went flying through a partially collapsed wall and past me. And a ways behind her, a red haired man in a red suit, wearing a pair of red glasses. A Team Flare grunt.
A few flames were scattered throughout the room, but before I could even get through the hole that was once the entrance, one of the other doors burst open, and a gaggle of Pokemon, as well as a few more Team Flare members, flew out and crashed onto the floor. They were followed by a very big, and very pissed off bug horse.
Rio vaulted over her a second later after she stopped, slamming her foot into one of the grunts' faces, shattering his glasses and sending him careening into a wall.
The door behind the counter suddenly burst open as well, another grunt unceremoniously being ejected from the back room by Dee, who had apparently gone straight for that door to make sure the Nurse Joy’s were alright. He hit the desk at a bad angle, and I honestly wasn’t sure if he was going to get back up.
The grunts were struggling to get up, though the Pokemon were quick to get back on their feet. I could hear more fighting from inside the building, so I had to assume there were more. In the room now there were eight of the Team Flare grunts, two Houndoom’s, six Houndour, two Poochyena, and three Mightyena.
Only Cara, Dee, Scoly, and Rio were here, so everyone else was probably still fighting. And Scoly and Rio didn’t look to be in good shape. But neither did the majority of the Pokemon in the room. One of the Houndour was already knocked out, and several others looked almost as bad.
Cara was facing off against a Houndoom and the three Houndour, now two, that were apparently left in the lobby. “Rio, where’s Primarina?” I called out. “We need her here to douse this fire.”
“Dealing with the other hallway!” she shouted as she rushed to assist her mother, drop kicking one of the Mightyena who had just stood up.
“Scoly, play ball,” I said and she got a rather interesting expression on her face that in other circumstances would have concerned me. She sprang and balled up before beginning to spin at high speed.
Seeing this, the few Pokemon around her hesitated, which was a big mistake as they were then unceremoniously bowled into as she launched forward.
After that, the fight was practically over. The four team combo easily overpowered the group of what I suspected were low level grunts.
Nurse Joy suddenly rushed from the back, blood dripping down the side of her face. Immediately she looked relieved to see the situation handled. “We’re all fine back here, evacuation is done.”
I gave a nod. “Dee, help Joy and keep her safe, Rio, Scoly, you go with them. We don’t know if there are more around so it’s better to travel in groups.” I moved through the room towards the door that Scoly and Rio had come through, heading towards the rooms. “Cara, with me.”
As we rushed down the hall, I noticed that there was a big problem. No alarms. Not for whatever that explosion was, and not for the fires. Surely they had alarms, right? Were they turned off?
My thoughts were interrupted as I spotted the red coat of another grunt. Cara moved to intercept, but before she had a chance he turned around. He was flailing about, struggling with his hands up, clutching at his horribly disfigured face. No, wait. Something was covering his face. It took me a moment to realize that it was Goomy, clinging tightly to the man's face. That was a bit scary.
Cara delivered a rather hard blow into the grunts' diaphragm, causing him to collapse. Goomy stared wide eyed, frantically looking around a moment before spotting Cara. Without a word she leapt from the man’s face and into the canine's arms. “It’s okay,” she said softly, “I’ve got you…”
“Stealing my lines now, eh?” I said with a smile as I walked beside them, patting Cara on the head.
Her face turned a visible shade of red. “Sh-shut up.”
Further down the hall, I could see Eevee, Mikyu, Banette, Keo, and Essy peeking out of the doorway of what had been our room. I could only call it a doorway, since the door was gone. All of them aside from Keo rushed towards me. I knelt down and scooped them all up. Keo looked noticeably relieved, but I also noticed she had quite a lot of new scratches.
As I moved forward I felt the building shake slightly. “What happened,” I asked when I got to the little white fox. But I didn’t stop and kept walking towards the sounds of fighting. There were a few Pokemon knocked out in the hallway, two Sneasel and three Houndour.
“Someone knocked on the door, and Rio went to answer. There were a bunch of red dressed men that told us they wanted Essy,” she explained as she fell into step beside me. “Rio slammed the door in their face, and was making a joke about it when the door exploded.” For a moment I wondered what the joke would have been. Guess I’d have to ask her later.
“And so you all started fighting,” I said, noting the damage to the hallway.
She nodded. “Rio told us to guard the room while they went out to fight.”
We came up to a doorway that had been exploded open. It had been a door that led out the side, some kind of emergency exit that I didn’t know even existed. There were a few grunts on the ground, and several Pokemon.
Diancie and Primarina looked perfectly fine, unlike the gaggle of people on the floor. They both rushed over when they saw me. “We got attacked!” Diancie said excitedly. A bit too excitedly.
“Yes, I can see that. Primarina, can you go to the front and put out the fires?”
Her eyes widened and she started to rush off in a rapidly flopping manner, Mikyu and Banette following after her.
I sighed a bit and made my way around the building, seeing a few Nurse Joy’s and Wigglytuff’s going around and tending to a few Pokemon, and to my surprise a few people. Scoly, Rio, and Dee had set up a sort of perimeter around the evacuation area, and were joined by some of the Wigglytuff. I moved straight up to one of the Nurse Joy’s. “Has Officer Jenny been called?” I asked.
“Yes, she’s on her way,” another Joy responded.
“I counted twelve Team Flare grunts,” I said as I looked around. “Eight in the main room, one in the residential hall, and three in the side courtyard.” As I finished speaking I could hear sirens, and started to make my way back around the building, putting Eevee in my hood so that I wasn’t holding multiple Pokemon.
As I walked I pulled out my phone and quickly sent a message to Adria, telling her that the Anistar Pokecenter was attacked by Team Flare, that I was alright, and that they were after one of my Pokemon. I didn’t wait for a response before I put my phone away, but hopefully that would be enough of a warning to stop anything from going bad on the law side of things.
Essy just stared curiously at everything around. Cara was close behind me, still carrying Goomy. When I rounded the corner, I could see Primarina spraying water on the fires, and she was joined by a Swanna and Vaporeon that were wearing vests with little police badges on them. Mikyu and Banette were standing beside her, watching the area. I wondered if it was some sort of instinct for Pokemon to watch each other's backs when they were occupied with something. “How much fire is left, Primarina?” I called out, both to announce my presence and to make it known that she was my Pokemon.
“Almost out,” she replied before focusing on the task.
I let out a breath, relaxing slightly. Officer Jenny approached, a Manectric at her side. “Excuse me, you’re Expert Jason, correct?”
“Yes,” I said with a nod, pulling out my identification card and showing it to her.
She visibly relaxed, and I hadn’t even noticed how tense she was. “Can you explain what happened?”
“I wasn’t here when it started, but from what my Pokemon have told me, they were after this one,” I said as I lifted Essy up a bit, who tilted her head to the side as she stared at the Officer.
That got a bit of a groan. “A variant?” She shook her head and sighed. “Yeah, that makes sense… Variants are worth a ton of money to collectors… Enough to buy several Pokecenters…” she grumbled. “Do you mind hanging around over there by my vehicle? Your Pokemon is doing a great job helping with the fire.”
“Of course,” I said with a smile and a nod.
She glanced at Essy before nodding and turning away to return to talk to the other police officers and what looked like some sort of emergency team. I made my way over to the police car as I had an interesting thought. Did they not have a fire department? I suppose with Pokemon, you would just need the appropriate types to deal with emergencies.
At that moment I saw three Machamps exit the building. They were wearing reflective vests with badges, as well as masks over their face that I recognized as some type of rebreather. They were carrying people and Pokemon out of the building.
“There’s more on the side of the building,” I called out, gesturing to the unconscious grunts and then pointing towards the side of the building.
One of the Machamps nodded as he started to jog that way, while the other two went back into the building. One of the Joy’s had come around to the front and was checking over the Team Flare members before they were either put on a stretcher, or cuffed and stuffed into the back of a police van. All of their Pokemon were also being returned, and an odd device was being clasped over the pokeballs. Some sort of pokeball lock?
Eventually the fire was out, and the Swanna and Vaporeon thanked Primarina for her assistance before they separated. The duo went over to the emergency team, I suppose to report the fire was out, while the seal came over to me.
I started to rub her head the moment she was close enough. “Good job,” I said with a smile. Mikyu and Banette both leaned against my leg.
In response she pressed her head against my side and let out a long sigh. “That was kinda scary,” she said.
“Oh? Was it?” I asked, continuing to pet her.
“You not being there made it scary,” she replied, and I could hear a slight quiver to her voice.
“You all did such a good job.” I noticed that Mikyu looked a bit fidgety and smiled a bit. “You can go get your supplies now,” I said as I knelt down to pat her head. “Just don’t get in anyone's way, alright?”
She quickly nodded her head and rushed off, Banette taking off as well to follow her. “Where are they going?” Officer Jenny asked as she came back.
“Now that the fire is out, they’re going and getting the stuff left in my room,” I explained as I stood back up.
She hesitated, clearly wanting to protest, but she just nodded instead. “Alright. I’d like to get your statement of the events,” she said as she pulled out a familiar little recording device and placed it down on the trunk of the car between us.
“Of course,” I said and waited for her to start. Once she did, I started my explanation from when I heard the explosion and rushed towards the building, skipping over the part when I yelled at Dee, but otherwise did my best to explain the events. “And when I heard the sirens, I came up to the front of the building to check on Primarina, Mikyu, and Banette, and talk to you,” I finished.
“So you ran toward the building because you knew they were there for you?” she asked.
That was an extremely leading question and I narrowed my eyes a bit at her. I had to put my hand around Primarina’s muzzle to keep her from piping in. “No, I didn’t know that until after I arrived and got to my Pokemon. I ran here because my Pokemon were here.”
“Right, right. Of course.” In addition to the recorder, she had been writing things down.
I pulled out my phone, checking to see if Adria had gotten back to me. She had responded that she and several other Jenny’s were on her way to Anistar. She said she would be there in thirty minutes, and that was about twenty minutes ago. “Have you had any previous run-ins with Team Flare?” she asked.
“No,” I said with a shake of my head.
“How did you know they were Team Flare?”
Ah, there was a loaded question. “Professor Sycamore told me about them,” I replied, which wasn’t entirely a lie.
She was writing something down. “Do you think this attack could have anything to do with your recent issues with the Yellow family?”
In response, I reached over and clicked the stop button on the recorder which caused her to stiffen. I frowned at her. “Officer Jenny.” She looked up from her notepad. “I hardly think that something like brainwashing the entire branch of the Association can be labeled as a mere issue. But I will answer your question with one of my own. Are you implying that Team Flare is working for the Yellow family?”
There was a moment of silence before she seemed to pale a bit and shook her head. “No, no. No, of course not.” She furiously scribbled out something in her notes. Judging from her reaction and facial expression, it seemed that she wasn’t trying to catch me in some sort of trap, but was a bit too curious for her own good.
“However. In my opinion, if Team Flare isn’t working for the Yellow family, they are at least working with them.” I clicked the start button so that the device was recording again. “I don’t think that the events are related. Team Flare, by their own admission, was after the variant Pokemon I have.”
She nodded. “R-right. I was jumping to conclusions since the events happened so close to each other.” She took a moment to take a few deep breaths before clearing her throat. “Thank you for your cooperation. We’ll reach out to you for any further questions,” she said before stopping the recording, noticeably sagging.
I pat her shoulder slightly. “You should be more careful with what you say, you know? Especially when recording.”
“Yeah. My mentor always says my mouth is quicker than my brain,” she said with a sigh.
That got a laugh from me as I pat her shoulder again. “That’s not entirely a bad thing, but it’s going to get you in a lot of trouble.”
Again she sighed. “It always does. I’ve almost been fired a few times.” She laughed in a self deprecating manner.
“Well, your thoughts are on the right track, I think,” I said as I rubbed my chin a bit. I realized that the action probably looked a bit odd as I was trying to stroke a nonexistent beard. “I think there’s a connection, but I haven’t figured it out.”
“It’s just suspicious, you know?” She looked around to make sure no one was nearby. “Team Flare never hits anything that has anything to do with the Yellow family,” she said in a low voice.
“They might just be afraid,” I suggested, but I knew it was a bit suspicious.
“That’s what I keep getting told, but to never do it? Not even accidentally in all these years?” That was definitely more suspicious. “And the reverse is also true. The Yellow family never interferes with anything that’s connected to Team Flare. There are even cases of the Yellow family pulling out of something, only for it to be hit by Team Flare.” She had pulled a separate notebook out of her coat, and was showing it to me.
“So probably not a coincidence,” I said as I looked over the pages. The pages were filled with dates and times.
“Some of these happen within hours. It could be that Team Flare has an informant, but this one in particular. This research lab.” She points out a specific line. “Four minutes. The Yellow family breaks ties with the lab, and then in four minutes, bam.” She snapped the book shut and tucked it away. “There’s a Team Flare raid.”
I thought about it for a moment, my brow furrowing. “The only other explanation is they were planning to attack a Yellow family backed facility, and the Yellow family got lucky, which also would have broken the pattern…”
“Or it was planned,” she said excitedly. “Arceus, I tried so hard to be the one to interview you after the event, but Adria got it because of previous connections.” She let out a sigh.
A soft snort escaped me. “She was worried there are Jenny’s on the Yellow family’s payroll.”
Her eyes suddenly went wide, that thought apparently not having occurred to her. “That-!” she stopped, coughing a bit as she pulled her notebook back out. “That makes so much sense,” she mumbled as she jotted a few things down. “And that explains why four Jenny’s were retired the other day… Emaline always gave me some weird vibes, and her budget was always so large for no reason…”
My brow raised a bit. “Who is that?”
She looked up, staring at me for a moment. “Ah! Right, you wouldn’t know. She was the Snowbelle City Officer Jenny. Her and her understudy were retired two days ago, but they didn’t say why.”
“Where were the other two Jenny’s that were retired?” I asked, curious at who exactly was on the payroll.
“Lousette of Coumarine City,” a voice suddenly spoke up to the side and our attention snapped to another Officer Jenny. I could almost immediately recognize them as Adria. “And Maryse of Ambrette.”
The Jenny I was talking to seemed extremely panicked, but I wasn’t bothered. In fact, I realized something. “That explains the aquarium.”
Primarina pressed more into my side and I could feel her shaking slightly, her flippers wrapped around my leg. The action did not go unnoticed from both Jenny’s. “What happened at the aquarium?”
I rubbed Primarina’s head as I explained where I had gotten her, and the neglectful treatment she was receiving.
Adria made a “Tsk” noise. “While that’s not technically under our jurisdiction, Maryse should have reported that.”
“Sycamore said he had a talk with them,” I said, which calmed down both ladies.
“Still… a whole year,” the unidentified Jenny said. She knelt down, rubbing Primarina’s back. “Poor thing…” This Jenny was definitely one in my good book.
“Celine,” Adria said and the other Jenny stiffened, standing up straight and saluting. So her name was Celine. “Report on the situation.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She pulled out her notepad, the one that was clearly used for official police business, and began running through everything.
While she did that, I knelt down to comfort Primarina, as did Cara and Goomy. Even after so much time, the mental trauma from being isolated like that clearly heavily affected her. “It’s okay… I’m here… You’re not alone…” I said softly, rubbing her back as she buried her head into my chest, taking deep breaths.
I spent the time comforting Primarina to listen to the report. As I thought, there were twelve Team Flare members, all of whom were arrested. The damage to the building was extensive, though not enough that the building was in any danger of collapse. Most of the fighting had been in the entry room, with some in the hospital wing, and residential.
Then they listed the total Pokemon, which drew my attention. In total, there were four Houndoom, twelve Houndour, four Poochyena, four Mightyena, and two Sneasel. All of which were heavily injured.
“What’s going to happen to those Pokemon?” I asked, interrupting the report.
Both of them seemed to hesitate, before Adria spoke, “There will be an attempt to rehabilitate them, but chances are they will be put down.”
Primarina and Cara’s head snapped around to stare at the two as I shot up to my feet. “Put down? Why?”
Celine tried to explain, “They’ve all been trained and conditioned by Team Flare… We do our best to try and undo some of that conditioning so that they can be given to suitable Trainers, but the truth is…”
“It often doesn’t work,” Adria finished. “They’re too violent. Too aggressive. So in the end it’s just…” her voice faltered.
“Just what? Easier?” I heard my voice crack at that last word.
“I know it’s upsetting… but we can’t. It takes so much-”
“No,” I interrupted. “No. Unacceptable. Give them to me.”
Both of them stared at me, unsure of how to respond.
“Give them to me,” I said again. “That is twenty six living, thinking, breathing things that you are suggesting be disposed of because they were raised by shitty people. You’re going to give them to me, or I’m going to take them.”
Both of them flinched at my words, and reached for the belt. The Manectric at Celine’s side tensed up, while Primarina and Cara did the same. “You- you can’t just threaten an Officer,” Celine said slowly, but I could hear the note of panic in her voice.
“I’m not threatening anyone,” I said calmly. “I’m giving you two options. Give them to me, and I will take responsibility for them.”
“And what if you can’t rehabilitate them?” Adria asked, still quite tense, though it didn’t look like she was as worried I was going to attack them.
“Then I will do everything that I can to help them,” I snapped. “I might not be able to help every single Pokemon on the planet, but I am not going to ignore some when they’re shoved in front of me.”
“What if they don’t want help,” Celine asked, seeming to calm down and relax a bit since I was talking and not trying to fight them.
“They’ll get my help whether they want it or not,” I said and took a deep breath, putting a hand on Cara and Primarina to calm them down. “I’ve seen too many be tossed away because of how they were raised. Because of how they grew up. Just for being born.” I took another deep breath, attempting to calm myself down. “If you’re not going to give them a chance, just give them to me. You can write them off as… disposed.” The word tasted foul in my mouth.
The two of them exchanged a glance and Adria nodded, both of them relaxing. “Alright. You can take them, if you think you can handle them.” She made a gesture to Celine who gave a reluctant nod and walked over to the police van. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Adria said softly.
“I’m giving them a chance,” I responded. “A chance they’re going to take, whether they want to or not.”
She let out a small breath of a laugh. “Right.” She paused. “Sycamore was right about you.”
“Oh? What did he say?” I smiled a bit.
“He said that you are the most frustratingly competent man that he has ever had the displeasure of meeting,” she said with a perfectly straight face.
I laughed. Hard. All of the tension of the previous situation being released. Adria even smiled a bit as Celine returned with a large case. She put the case on the trunk of the car before pulling a key to unlock it and opening it to reveal twenty six pokeballs. Every ball was in their shrunken form with a metal black band around them.
“These are pokeball locks,” she explained, pulling out a sort of key, but it didn’t have any prongs on the end and was instead flat. “You’ll need one of these to release them.” She glanced at Adria, who nodded, and she put the key down.
I passed Essy to Cara before placing my bag beside the case and took the key first, putting it in my pocket to make sure that I didn’t lose it. All I could think as I began loading the pokeballs into the bag was that this was a lot. It’s one thing to hear twenty six, or even say twenty six, but to actually see so many was a bit staggering. “Thank you,” I said with a bit of a smile.
Celine just nodded, still growing a bit. “I wish you luck with your new wolf pack.”
“Technically there are two felines,” I said with a smile at her.
She just rolled her eyes, smiling a bit. “Right. Well, good luck with your wolf pack and two cats,” she said with a shake of her head and walking off.
“So, what are you going to put in your report?” I asked, glancing at Adria.
There was a moment of silence as she thought about and then shrugged. “I’ll just say that they didn’t survive the battle. Since-” she hesitated. “Not all of the Team Flare members survived.”
That caused me to pause. A flash of the man that flew through the door and bounced off the counter ran through my mind, and I nodded. “Right…” There was a bit of bile that tried to push its way up my throat, but I swallowed it down and pushed that scene out of my mind. “Sorry about being so pushy.”
“No it’s-” she hesitated, trying to find the right words as I put the last pokeball into my bag and closed the case. “I understand. I don’t like it either, but it’s just how things have always been done.”
“Tradition is just peer pressure from the dead,” I retorted.
Her face scrunched a bit, but she didn’t have a response. So she changed the subject. “Are you going to keep all of them?”
I shook my head. “No. Helping them will also include finding them good homes and Trainers.”
She arched a brow at me. “What’s the difference?”
My brow arched as well as I looked at her. “Not all Pokemon need to fight? Some of them might just want to be pets and live relaxed lives.”
“Oh.” She blinked a few times, clearly not having thought about that. “I figured that they would want to fight.”
“Not all Pokemon do. Mikyu doesn’t really like fighting. Ah, the one with the Pikachu costume,” I added to her puzzled look. “She said she doesn’t want to fight, so I’m not going to make her.”
Adria nodded slowly, clearly not having thought about that. “Well… you can contact me when you start looking for homes. We do have a sort of adoption program for confiscated or surrendered Pokemon. Any Joy can tell you more about it.”
I nodded a bit. “I’ve heard it mentioned… I’ll talk with them about it.” I touched the new key in my pocket as I thought about how this was going to work. They needed to be healed. Which meant that I was going to have to talk quite a bit with Nurse Joy. Maybe I could talk to Farm Joy? I did still have her number…
“Do you… uhm…” Adria hesitated. “If…something like this happens again… Do you want me to contact you?”
All of my thoughts halted. Could I do something like that? I know that I wanted to. I had played with the idea before… but actually seeing it first hand, and actually having the pokeballs in bag made it a far more daunting task. “How often does this happen?” I asked instead of answering.
She frowned a bit. “Not often… Usually it’s just… a couple. We snag a member or two being dumb. It’s been a long time since a raid like this has failed.”
“Then yes.” Even though I might regret it… “There’s no reason to just ignore it. You can contact me, and if I can take them, I will.”
She sighed and nodded. “Alright… I’ll see if I can manage something. Hope you have a better day,” she said and pat my shoulder before walking away.
“Is uhm… this a good idea?” Cara whispered to me, watching Adria leave. “That’s a lot of mouths to feed…”
I nodded. “I’ll just have to go fight some gyms to get the money. That with my salary should be enough to sustain us all.” I rubbed the top of her head. “Food isn’t the problem. Room is. We’re going to have to find a large enough space for them all, and assess their mental states.”
Cara just gave me a puzzled expression, clearly not understanding.
“Don’t worry about it.” I looked over at the Pokecenter, which still had several people milling about in front of it, checking things. “I’ll figure it out.”
Chapter 17
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Goomy - Goomy - Full of dragon slug vibes
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart
Banette - Banette - Collected from the Supermart
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - Bread and butter Ice Beams
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.Wolf Pack:
Houndour x12 - Houndour
Houndoom x4 - Houndoom
Poochyena x4 - Poochyena
Mightyena x4 - Mightyena
Sneasel x2 - Sneasel
Chapter Text
“Okay… walk me through your idea again?” a rather tired looking Farm Joy said, pinching the bridge of her nose. I had already explained my idea to her twice, but apparently it was so absurd that she was having trouble understanding it. Was it really such a foreign concept to people of this world? Or was there something else that made it absurd to them?
So I tried to simplify it. “I want to create some sort of rehabilitation program for abandoned, confiscated, surrendered, and traumatized Pokemon. The goal being to eventually rehome them with suitable Trainers or release them depending on their wants and needs.”
She closed her eyes, her brow scrunched. “And you want to use my land to do it.”
“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “I said I wanted to know if you knew of something similar to your farm. Someplace that I could get the assistance from the Joy clan to help with.”
“So my farm,” she said bluntly.
“Something like your farm,” I replied.
She sort of glared at me and didn’t answer. Honestly a fair response, considering the circumstances. I just turned my attention to the cart that currently had twenty five pokeballs on it. The one that was missing was in the room behind me, the Pokemon inside being treated and fed by Nurse Joy. We’d gone through almost half of them so far, Dee and a Wigglytuff assisting to make sure that the Pokemon didn’t hurt the Joy when they regained consciousness.
So far they had all been anything but docile. A lot of threatening and posturing, but quick to back down without their Trainer nearby. And they seemed to have some respect for Nurse Joy, which was a good thing. Although that piqued my curiosity as to why.
A heavy sigh brought my attention back to my phone. “Okay, but why?”
“Because I currently have twenty six Pokemon that need rehabilitation, and plan to take more,” I explained, smiling a bit.
“That’s not the answer and you know it,” she snapped.
My smile turned a bit into a frown before I sighed a bit. “Alright, fine. You want the harsh, realistic, unfiltered answer.” She nodded and I took a deep breath. “I don’t want to see any amount of Pokemon put to slaughter because of some idiots who think the obliteration of all life that isn’t them is a good thing in the grand scheme of the universe.”
There were several moments of silence as Farm Joy digested this information. While that was happening, Dee came out to swap Pokemon for one that had yet to be treated. She gave me a puzzled look, but I just smiled at her and pat her head. She flailed her arms at me in mock protest, but there was a smile on her face.
“I understand what you want to do… You’re not the first… But the logistics alone…” Joy paused. “Is that really their goal?”
I turned my attention back to the phone before nodding. “Yes. It is.” I still had no idea if this was a timeline with AZ and the Ultimate weapon, or if it was like the anime and they were attempting to use Zygarde. It might be both… I’d have to ask Sycamore. Something to do after this conversation.
“Are they insane?” she spluttered.
“Yes.”
“They would have to be insane,” she continued. “Just the mere thought of that… What sort of psychotic…” she paused and then quickly moved over to a nearby terminal.
“What are you doing?”
“Blacklisting any and all Team Flare members from any Joy owned facility.”
“You can do that?” I asked, and then frowned. “Would that even help?”
“I don’t know…” she said with a sigh. “But it’s better than nothing… We… uh, well we tend to overlook if someone belongs to a criminal organization provided they don’t make it obvious. It helps keep things like the event from today happening…” She pounded her fist onto the table. “At least it’s supposed to!” she growled through gritted teeth.
I didn’t say anything, giving her a moment to calm down as she huffed and puffed in anger. I could understand the frustration that she was going through, since it sounds like they had some sort of ceasefire agreement to keep Pokecenters from being attacked.
She took several deep breaths. “This day could not get any worse…” she muttered.
“Oh it most definitely can,” I said with a nod, which caused her gaze to snap towards me. “Especially if I told you who the leader of Team Flare was-” I paused, “Though you are unlikely to believe me.”
“You…” her voice faltered for a moment. “You know who the leader is? Oh Arceus… you actually do, don’t you?” She turned away, covering her face for a moment. She was muttering something that I couldn’t hear over the phone, but it was clear she was upset.
“Look.” I waited for her attention to be back on me. “I’m going to be talking with Sycamore and Officer Jenny later today. But right now I’m asking for your help with these Pokemon. I know that the Joy’s have a sort of program for this already, and so do the Jenny’s, but it’s clearly not enough.”
She sighed, rubbing her face. “You’re not the first to try this, you know? It’s been tried and tried and tried again so many times, but it always fails. What we have now are the remnants of the most successful program.”
“But I can do something that none of them could,” I argued. “I can actually talk to them, and understand them.”
Her brow was furrowed, and there was a deep frown on her face. “Communication isn’t the problem. It’s funding. Something like that doesn’t generate money, so it can’t be sustained.”
“I’m not asking for financial help. I can figure that part out. I just need… a place.” I took a deep breath, looking down at the cart again. “I’m in over my head, and I just need some help.”
She looked over at me for a moment and then smiled a bit. “Wow, you seem to actually be at a loss. Didn’t think that was possible.”
I frowned a bit. I opened my mouth to say something, but instead just sighed, sliding down the wall into a sitting position. “I am. I made a snap decision based on my emotions because I… I just…didn’t want to know that they died because I didn’t do anything. I just had to do something.”
There was a moment of silence before she spoke, “I’m no psychologist, but it sounds like you might have a hero complex.” She let out a soft giggle.
A bit of a smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “Close. Savior complex. Someone with a hero complex does good things in order to seek recognition for their heroics and are usually narcissists. Someone with a savior complex has a driving need to help others, often to the detriment of themself.”
She just stared at me, a confused expression on her face.
“I have a minor in psychology,” I explained. “And was diagnosed when I was in college. I try to keep it reigned in and not let it dictate my life, but I… don’t really do anything for myself.”
It was really obvious that she wanted to say more on that subject, but decided to drop it. “I’ll… Okay, I will see what I can do. But I make no promises, so try and find some other avenue for this.”
“Alright,” I said with a nod, smiling a bit. “Thanks for trying.”
She nodded and then hung up the call.
I really wondered why I had just explained that to her. Maybe I just needed someone to talk to? I realized I was becoming increasingly disconnected from humans, and I felt like I kept getting rambly and personal whenever I had a long conversation. Maybe it was because I didn’t want her to actually talk to someone who knew about psychology and bring it up? That made me wonder if they had therapists here… Surely they did, since Joy mentioned psychologists. With the amount of trauma the average Trainer must get they had to. Although the lack of therapists could be why people were so messed up. Something to think on later. It’s been over a decade since I talked to a therapist.
I took in a deep breath, closing my eyes before slowly letting it out. Now… How would I do this? I needed a place… The training field we used would do for something temporary. But I needed something permanent. How much did land cost? How expensive would the supplies be to make an island habitable? The island would need several different terrain types.
This was frustrating.
A sudden text brought me out of my thoughts and I looked at the message. It was from Sycamore, saying he just heard about what happened and was asking if I was alright. Well, I guess it was time for this conversation.
I really did not want to have this conversation.
But I had no excuses to not step in.
The phone rang twice before it was picked up. “Jason? Are you alright?”
“Hello, Professor. Yeah, I’m okay,” I said as I looked over at Dee coming out. She gave me a puzzled look, wondering why I was on the floor. “I’m okay,” I repeated, this time for her.
She just nodded as she swapped pokeballs.
“I heard what happened from Jenny,” he said, his words turning my attention back to the phone. “Where are you now?” he asked as he could only see the wall behind me.
“Still at the Pokecenter,” I said.
He sighed, shaking his head. “I can’t believe Team Flare would attack a Pokecenter… They must be crazy.”
“You don’t know the half of it…” I said with a sigh. “Do you know what their goal is, Professor?”
There was a moment of silence before he slowly shook his head. “No. I’ve never been told. If anyone has even figured it out I’ve-” he stopped, staring at me. “You know.”
I nodded. “I wasn’t going to… interfere. I was just going to just let the sequence of events naturally occur and step in if necessary-” I stopped talking, my brow furrowing. “Okay, wow. That really sounds like I’m some sort of conceited know it all.” Sycamore immediately started nodding. “Don’t agree with me so quickly,” I said with a laugh.
“Hey, you said it,” he replied with a bit of a smile.
“I just…” I took a deep breath. “I struggle to get involved in things when it comes to people who hold serious power, but since they dragged me into this, I’m not going to hold back.” I paused, taking a deep breath as I tried to organize my thoughts. “Team Flare’s goal is the complete annihilation of all life that isn’t theirs, or approved by them.”
There was almost a full minute of silence as he digested this information. “Okay, so they’re crazy.”
“You believe me?” I asked, a bit bewildered that he didn’t even question me.
“Not really, but I don’t really have a reason not to hear you out,” he said with a bit of a laugh. “I’m not like Professor Oak… I struggle to really believe your whole other world thing, but I am humoring you. How do they plan to do it?”
“So you think I’m crazy,” I said, more of a statement than a question.
“I don’t know what to think about you,” he admitted.
I frowned, thinking back to the conversations that we’ve had. To think that this was how he thought. I was mentally kicking myself for trusting him and opening up to him the other day about my life. Again I had overshared because I was comfortable around him. “Have you ever heard of a man named AZ?” I asked after a moment. “Older man, long white hair, red beanie, green scarf, looks disheveled and homeless. Insanely tall, like nine feet. Wears a key around his neck.” I went over the details that I could remember of AZ.
His brow furrowed and he slowly shook his head. “No… I can’t say that I have.”
“Alright. There’s also Zygarde,” I said and noted the way that his eyes seemed to widen a bit.
“How do you- no, it doesn’t matter how…” He rubbed his face.
That caught my attention immediately. “So you have the Zygarde Cube?” I asked.
He stared at me, his eyes narrowing a bit at me. Clearly this was not the sort of question that he thought he’d have to answer, or even consider.
But before he had a chance to answer, I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. There are three routes they can go to achieve their goal, and I honestly think they might be doing two, if not all three. The first is something called the Ultimate Weapon. It’s hidden under Geosenge. And AZ has the key to activate it” I paused. “That is, if this is the timeline that it exists in which I think it does.”
“Who is AZ?” the Professor asked, frowning.
“Ancient immortal king of Kalos from three thousand years ago.” He just stared blankly at me as I spoke, a skeptical look on his face. “He built the Ultimate Weapon, although he originally built it to revive his dead Pokemon, but then succumbed to his grief and turned the machine into a weapon and obliterated the two armies that caused his Pokemon's death.”
“And he… hid it?” he asked slowly, struggling to tell if I was telling the truth or not.
“His brother buried it in hopes it would never be used again. This brother is also the one who started the conflict that got the Pokemon killed.” I felt like I was giving an odd sort of history lesson.
“You…” he paused, his thoughts fighting his mouth for what could move faster. “Wait, you said they’re doing both, so you’ve seen the weapon?”
I shook my head. “No.” He sagged a bit in relief. “But I have seen the entrance to the facility that contains it. I didn’t investigate further because I didn’t think I could defeat the leader of Team Flare, and I-” I coughed a bit. “I was trying to not get involved.”
“And you didn’t think to tell anyone?” he asked with a sigh.
“You literally just said you didn’t believe me,” I said, doing my best to keep my tone even and blunt. Which I was confident I succeeded at considering the way he flinched. “I have only my word, and I was maybe perhaps a bit too paranoid and untrusting. Although I feel a bit justified about that now considering the event with the Association.”
There was a moment of silence before he just nodded and let out a very tired sounding sigh. “Right… Okay, I can kinda get that.” He leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You mentioned the leader of Team Flare… do you know who that is?”
I nodded. “Yes. Lysandre.”
His brow furrowed and he was glaring at me a bit. “Lysandre. You expect me to believe that Lysandre is the leader of Team Flare. Lysandre Labs is one of the leading technical companies in Kalos. Next you’re going to tell me Diantha is a Team Flare member,” he said as he rolled his eyes.
“No, but Malva is.” He stiffened, freezing in place as his brain seemed to lock up trying to process what I just said. “Yes. The Elite Four member,” I added.
“That… but…” He frowned. “That’s not possible. I happen to know Lysandre and Malva quite well. Lysandre just announced their new Holo Caster product… Why the hell would anyone believe he would do something like that?”
I paused for a moment, looking at Sycamore, who wore a complicated expression, staring off at something that I couldn’t see. “My desire is for a more beautiful world.” Sycamore’s eyes snapped to me. “I can’t stand the thought of the world becoming uglier. Sound familiar?”
His mouth opened and closed several times. “That’s… That’s just… That’s just hyperbole.” He hesitated. “I… I need to check something.”
Suddenly the call disconnected and I frowned. I was going to tell him that I was calling Jenny next, but I guess that doesn’t matter.
I took a deep breath, waiting a few minutes to calm my nerves when Dee came out once again to exchange for a new pokeball. “How’s it going?” I asked as I looked over at her.
She frowned, holding up a finger towards the inside to let those inside know she was going to be a moment before she let the door close. “They are… scared. Confused. Unsure. Some of them have been-” she tensed, her face scrunching into something resembling frustration and sadness. “Relieved.”
That caused me to wince a bit. I couldn’t imagine what sort of treatment they were getting if their first reaction to being taken from their trainer was relief. “Could you try and keep track of which is which?”
“I already have been,” she said as she held up one of the pokeballs that still had a black band locking it closed and pointed out a colored dot on the bottom. “The Joy’s put together a colored sticker notation to make identification easier.”
I smiled a bit. “Good. You can explain the colors to me later.”
She nodded and turned to go back in with a new pokeball, but before she could I reached out and grasped her hand before it reached the door. She looked down at me, giving me a puzzled expression.
“I’m not mad at you,” I said softly, which caused her puzzled expression to soften into one that was a bit sad. “But you need to tell me about things like that. I need to know when you’re hurt.”
It looked like she wanted to say something, her mouth opening and closing several times. But just nodded instead.
“You never have to be scared, or worried about telling me anything, okay?” I rubbed the back of her hand with my thumb. “None of you do. I’m here for all of you, okay?”
Her eyes seemed to water a bit and she nodded. “Okay.”
I smiled at her and squeezed her hand slightly. It took a moment before she returned the gesture and smiled a bit. “Okay. I’ve got one more phone call to make, and then should be done with that.”
She nodded slightly. “Okay,” she said softly before letting go of my hand and reentering the medical room. It was honestly a bit funny to me that I wasn’t allowed in that room because it contained ‘Joy Clan Secrets’. The technology that they had to heal people and Pokemon was absurdly advanced. They had a monopoly on it, so kept it all well protected. I hadn’t really asked about it, but I wonder if they would tell me anything if I did?
My attention turned back to my phone and stared at it for a moment. How was I going to explain this? I hadn’t thought it through before talking to Sycamore, but that was because he knew. Adria was different in that she didn’t. Did she still think he had amnesia? She hadn’t brought it up so maybe she was just trying to not touch on a sensitive topic.
Should I tell her the truth?
That was honestly not a bad option, but could raise a lot of potential problems. It also wasn’t something that I wanted to do over the phone if I could help it. No, unfortunately I would have to make up a lie. A convincing one that left little doubt.
I spent so long thinking it over that Dee came out once again to trade out for a different pokeball. Ah, right, of course. That was dumb of me to not consider the obvious. She knew I could talk to Pokemon, and here I had a huge group of Team Flare Pokemon.
The phone rang several times before being answered with a very tired, “Hello?” a voice croaked out. All that was displayed on the screen was the ceiling, and part of a lamp seen from below.
“Sorry to wake you, Adria,” I said as I checked the time. It was eleven at night, and she had probably been up all day, unlike me who slept in. Honestly I was starting to feel tired.
“Jason?” She tilted the phone in order to look at me. Her hair was a mess, and she had a bit of drool on the side of her mouth.
I had to fight back a smile. “Yeah. Sorry, but I uh…” I hesitated, not liking that I had to continue to lie to her. “I just got some rather concerning information from the Pokemon.”
She rubbed her face as she let out a yawn. “What is it?”
“I know who the leader of Team Flare is and the location of one of their main bases,” I said slowly.
She froze, her mouth still open mid yawn as registered what I just said, her brain screaming at her that what I just said was extremely important. “What?” was all she managed to say after a moment.
“I got the Pokemon to tell me who the leader of Team Flare is, as well as a location of one of their main bases,” I repeated.
There was nothing but a blur of movement from the camera as she shot up, her hair plastered to one side and sticking up something fierce. “What? Who? Where? Where is the base?” She was up out of bed and moving, though I couldn’t tell what she was doing or where she was going because she was flailing the phone around and the room was dark.
“The base is in Geosenge. There’s a large boulder outside of town to the north west that contains an elevator,” I explained. I had no idea if it was their main headquarters like in the game, or just an important base, but I had confirmed that it was there thanks to Cara. So I at least knew where the Ultimate Weapon was.
“I’ll call you back,” she said suddenly before hanging up.
I blinked at the phone, my brow furrowing a bit. My eyes wandered over to the nearby cart that had all of the pokeballs on it, staring at it as I tried to think. I really couldn’t think of a solution. Farm Joy was right. Money was the problem.
There was a tug on my coat that brought my attention to my other side to see Essy, standing there and staring at me with those big eyes. “Beans?” she questioned, tilting her head to the side.
A smile crept onto my face as I nodded a bit. “Alright. You can have a bean.” I reached into my bag to get at the bean bag while she crawled up and sat in my lap. She took the bean as soon as it was within reach and began munching on it. If I let her she’d probably eat pokebeans till she exploded.
Suddenly Cara came flying around the corner, skidding to a stop the moment she saw the two of us. Her shoulders sagged a bit and she let out a breath. She made her way over and sat down across from me, her back against the wall. “And I thought Rio was a difficult child to keep track of,” she muttered.
I chuckled a bit and nodded, petting Essy. “She’s going to be a handful.” My phone suddenly started to ring.
Answering it I was met with the sight of Jenny standing a bit away, the phone on some sort of stand while she was buttoning up her vest. “Okay, sorry. I had to get an emergency strike force organized.” Her hair was still a mess, but she didn’t seem to be concerned about it.
“It’s fine,” I said, watching as Cara crawled across the floor to me, sitting against the wall beside me so that she could see the phone, too.
“If your information is accurate this could be huge.” She had quite a worried expression on her face, though at the same time she looked excited. She was pulling on her belt and attaching pokeballs to it. “Are there any specifics about the boulder?”
“It’s large, the size of a small building, and there’s apparently not anything around it,” I said as I tried to remember back to when I checked it a few months ago.
“Boulder? The one with the room in it?” Cara asked, and for a moment I stiffened before remembering Adria couldn’t understand her.
“Shouldn’t be too hard to do a sweep of the area.” She pulled on her hat, hiding the muss that was her hair, before picking up the phone. “Trakky, come,” she called out over her shoulder as she was making her way to the door. There was a shuffling and a bunch of thuds before I saw a Mantectric appear in the background and rush up to her.
“Their name is Trakky?” I asked as I looked at the very serious looking electric dog.
Adria’s face went a bit red. “Yes. He’s been with me my entire career so far, and one of my personal Pokemon.” She pulled a pokeball and returned Trakky before rushing down a set of stairs. It looked like she lived in an apartment building? “Got him as an Electrike when I was still in the academy,” she added.
“It’s a good name,” I said with a nod.
She cleared her throat. “Right. Well, I didn’t explain the situation to anyone, just threw out the alarm for a strike force. I’m hoping that by the time anyone on their payroll realizes what’s happening it’ll be too late to warn them.”
“Yeah that’s a good plan,” I said as I continued to pet Essy, the little cat was still munching on her bean and staring at the screen. I wondered if she recognized the Jenny or was just interested in the phone. “It’s really a shame that that’s required at this point.”
“Yeah…” She let out a heavy sigh before getting into a car, putting the phone up into a holster on the dashboard. “You also mentioned you knew the leader?”
I hesitated. “Don’t start driving yet.”
She stopped, having turned around to look back before backing out. She glanced back at the phone before turning and fully facing it. “That bad?”
Taking a deep breath I nodded. “Sycamore didn’t believe me. But after they described them, I knew exactly who it was.”
There was a frown on her face. “Alright… Well, tell me and we can try and deal with it later.”
“Lysandre.”
Just saying the word made the air suddenly feel heavy. It was very different from when I told Sycamore, because I could immediately tell from Adria’s expression that she believed me. “Dammit…” she practically snarled, slamming the car into reverse and flying out of the space.
“It gets worse,” I said, noting how she had her lights going but no siren.
She took a deep breath and nodded, biting her lip.
“From what they told me… Malva is a Team Flare member, or at least was,” I said, hoping that the revelation didn’t cause her to crash.
From the way she jerked, I think it almost did. “What?!” she shouted.
I nodded. “They knew who Malva was and had seen her in the base.”
Her palm slammed in the steering wheel several times. “Dammit! Dammit dammit dammit! Lysandre is one thing!” She spun the wheel suddenly, clearly taking a turn far faster than she should. “We can’t touch Malva. The League has their own internal structure…” She started to take deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.
“You can’t get her?” I asked, a bit surprised at that bit of news.
She shook her head. “No. Unless she blatantly breaks the law and there’s substantial proof of it… We can’t even investigate her. We have to request the League do it.”
“Well that’s dumb,” I said with a sigh, shaking my head. “What about Lysandre?”
“There’s already an investigation ongoing on him,” she said, and then hesitated as she realized she probably shouldn’t have told me that. “It uh… There were some Trainers who had their Mega Stones stolen, and shortly after Lysandre Labs put out some reports on newly discovered research on Mega Stones. Someone brought it to our attention that all of the Mega Stones that were in the reports matched the list of the ones stolen.”
“An interesting coincidence,” I said, glancing over at Cara as she gripped onto my coat. Just the talk of Mega Stones seemed to make her anxious.
“Right. And then Lysandre Labs refused to tell us where they got the stones. They said it was confidential. But that’s just one incident, there are a few others that make the labs really shady. They’ve been running for so many years and hardly put out any findings, but always have money to burn. Just a few months ago they announced these Holo Caster things. If we raid this base and find anything that links him to it, he’s toast.”
At least I seemed to be really early in the timeline. Even during the game the Holo Caster was a well established thing, and it was in the anime as well. That suddenly reminded me of something, and I made a mental note to ask Professor Sycamore about Alain. They might not have found the ancient Giant Rock. What a dumb name for something that has the capability of massive destruction.
That also meant the Giant Rock was probably still in Hoenn?
“You okay?” Adria suddenly asked, glancing at the phone.
“Ah? Oh, yeah. Sorry, forgot we were still talking and got lost in thought… The Pokemon told me some… really concerning things,” I managed to say, trying to keep on topic.
“Arceus, there’s more?” she said, exasperated.
“Yeah, just two things…” I hesitated as I tried to think about how to word it. “They mentioned things that sounded concerning. Something about an Ancient Weapon capable of wiping out all life, except those that Lysandre deems worthy of being a part of the new world.”
Her face skewed into one of disbelief. “Are they insane?” she spluttered.
“Yes,” I said with a bit of a smile, trying not to laugh at the fact she had had the exact same reaction as Farm Joy.
“Alright. I’m at the station,” she said as she suddenly parked. “I-” she stopped, and took a deep breath. “Look, I know you know a lot more about this than you’re telling me… but…” She looked at the phone, watching me for a moment. “Thank you for telling me.”
I hesitated. “I’m sorry. I… can explain more later, if you want.”
She sighed, leaning back in her seat for a moment. She pulled off her hat and spent a bit of time fixing her hair, before putting it back on. “I just don’t know why you’d lie.”
“Because you wouldn’t believe me,” I responded with a bit more edge to my voice than I meant. “Sycamore doesn’t. He just thinks I’m crazy.”
“But he’s trying to help. So am I,” she said, and the softness of her tone caught me off guard. “I can’t… I don’t know if I will believe you, either. But I can tell you’re a good man, and you’re trying to help in your own way.”
I frowned a bit, looking at her. “Sycamore told you, didn’t he?”
“He implied some things,” she admitted. “He didn’t go into much detail, just that you seem… confused. Lost.”
That was frustrating. I didn’t really care at this point if Adria knew, and I was planning on telling her the truth, but to find out that she was informed second hand was… That was… That was an odd betrayal of trust.
My attention was brought down to Essy in my lap as she grabbed my hand, her gaze having left the camera. I had stopped petting her, so she had taken it upon herself to grab my hand and rub her face against it. “Are you okay?” Cara said softly, nudging me a bit with her shoulder, concern on her face.
“Yeah, just…” I frowned. “I’m starting to regret stopping you from decking Sycamore.”
She let out a snort, and Adria gave me a perplexed look. “Decking Sycamore?”
“Yeah,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “Cara doesn’t like him because he’s bad at doing his job.”
Adria let out a soft scoff, that was clearly trying to hide a laugh. “He has priorities. But I get that. I’ve gotten quite a few reports about the man slacking in his duties, but I also get that he can only do so much in a day and a lot of these things were assigned to him because the Association is lazy and doesn’t want to do their own job.”
I nodded a bit. “Right. I’m trying to not hold it too much against him, but it’s hard not to get pissed off at him since I’ve had to clean up some of his messes.”
She nodded a bit. “Yeah, I heard-” There was a sudden knocking at her window that caused her to jump. “Ah, looks like I have to go. I’ll talk to you later, Jason.”
“Alright. Thanks, Adria,” I said before she hung up.
A sigh escaped me as I looked down at Essy, who was still rubbing her face against my hand. She was just an adorable little bean loving cat.
Dee came out, startling a bit when she saw that there were a lot more people out here than before. “Everything alright?” she asked as she swapped pokeballs.
“That one,” Cara pointed at Essy, “Disappeared to look for Jace without saying anything.” She huffed before standing up, Dee giggling a bit at her response as she went back into the medical room. “I should probably go tell everyone she’s alright…”
I reached up to start rubbing her back. “Is the new room fine?” It was only a few doors down from the room we had been staying in, but seemed to have the same amenities as the other.
Cara nodded. “Yeah. Most of them were asleep when I left, but Rio, Scoly, and Primarina were still watching Mystery Dungeon when I left.”
“Team Speed Shell would be a great rescue team,” I said with a nod.
“They actually said they wanted to be explorers,” she said before stretching. “Said that would be more fun.”
I let out a soft laugh and nodded a bit. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”
She turned a bit and grasped my hand. My brow furrowed a bit, giving her a puzzled look as she stared at my hand, gently rubbing my fingers. It took a moment before she finally spoke. “Those bastards are going to pay,” she growled. “I want to make them pay…”
A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “They will.” It wasn’t really a surprise to me that Cara had quite a revenge driven mindset. She probably thought about revenge an unhealthy amount.
“Will Officer Jenny be able to take them down?” she asked softly, still staring at my hand.
“I think so. If not, it’s going to hurt them really bad.” I shifted my hand a bit in order to grasp hers. “If she can’t, then we will.”
She nodded a bit, the serious expression on her face slowly relaxing to then be quickly replaced with an embarrassed one before she pulled her hands away. “Stop playing with my beans,” she whined, clearly trying to fight back a smile and her tail wagging slightly.
“Beans?” Essy’s dull attention was now focused on Cara.
I laughed, giving her a big smile. “I just can’t help myself,” I said, still laughing a bit as I got another bean for Essy. The little feline happily took it and began munching on it.
Cara just glared at me, doing her best to hold a frown on her face as she rubbed her hands. “I still don’t understand the appeal.”
I shrugged before lifting Essy up and holding her out to Cara. “Make sure she gets to sleep soon, alright? And that goes for the rest of them that are still up.”
“Are you not coming?” Cara asked as she took Essy, cradling her as the cat happily snacked.
“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “I’ll be staying up in case I’m needed.”
It looked like she wanted to say something, but instead she just nodded. “Alright,” she said after a moment before turning and heading back down the hall.
I watched as she left before taking in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. I had really just kicked a hornets nest. Although… I wasn’t the one doing the kicking. This was going to be quite an eventful few hours for other people.
I chuckled to myself as I thought about it. How would they react? Part of me was tempted to try and join, but at the same time I didn’t want more heat to be aimed at me. Hopefully Adria didn’t say where she got the information from… She wouldn’t do that, right? Damn I should have said something.
Quickly I sent her a message asking her to not tell anyone where she got the information from if possible. In response I got a thumbs up emoji after a few seconds. Hopefully no one would find out, or it would at least take a long time before anyone did. If I was really lucky, Lysandre would be there. Or at least something linking him to Team Flare.
But that was probably too much to ask for. Even if he was insane, he was smart. The Admins of Team Flare were fairly smart as well, and then there were the Scientists. Those five were going to be a problem. Aliana, Bryony, Celosia, Mable, and Xerosic. I don’t know much about the first four, but Xerosic is probably the most dangerous of the five.
I wondered who was more of a threat: Lysandre, or Xerosic?
Pushing all of that out of my mind, I went back to working on my phone. There was still so much that I needed to convert from pictures to searchable text…
It was a few hours later before Dee, Nurse Joy, and Wigglytuff came out with the last pokeball. Nurse Joy gave me a puzzled look. “You didn’t have to wait,” she said as I got up, putting my phone away as I did.
“I just wanted to make sure everything went alright,” I said as I looked down at the tray of pokeballs. They were all upside down, each one having a colored dot. “So, how are they?”
Joy sighed, putting her hands on her hips as she looked at the cart. “Malnourished. Scarred. Scared. Several of them show signs of neglect and abuse. Some of it… really bad.”
I hesitated to ask. “How bad?”
She shook her head. “Very. A lot of them are going to be very… upset if touched. I’ve never had to use every color of sticker…” She gestured at the pokeballs. “These are our trauma stickers,” she says as she points to one ball with a green sticker. Most pokeballs had multiple stickers. “We use these to be able to tell how a Pokemon is going to react while in our care.”
“Well it’s good to have a system,” I muttered as I nodded slightly.
“Green means stable, no real concern and are fairly easy to work with.” There were two of these, but they also had yellow stickers and one had a purple one. “Yellow means that they are fearful, but aren’t necessarily aggressive.” I noted that almost every single ball had a yellow sticker. “Red means they’re aggressive.” Twenty pokeballs had this sticker. “Pink means they are extremely hostile.” There were four with pink stickers.
“Which Pokemon are these?” I asked, gesturing at the pink stickers.
“Two Houndoom, and two Mightyena,” she said after consulting a chart. As I took a better look, all of them also had a little number written on them. “I’ll give you the chart so you can go over it. Now, the last color is purple.” She pointed at one of the dark purple stickers. “This means the Pokemon is…” she hesitated. “These are the ones that have been badly abused and react negatively to being touched.”
I grimaced slightly, seeing six of those. “Okay, I will keep that in mind.”
She nodded a bit before pulling the stack of papers from her clipboard. “Each one is numbered, and noted.” She held out the papers to me and I took them.
Just looking over the first page I could tell this was going to be even more difficult than I thought. “What would have been the…” I hesitated, unsure if I actually wanted to know the answer. “Standard protocol.”
Her face twisted into a sour frown. It took her a moment to answer, “Anything marked with red or pink would be put down.”
I gaped at her for a few seconds. “That’s… That’s practically all of them. That’s twenty Pokemon who wouldn’t even get a chance?”
She was still frowning, and nodded. “We don’t have the time…or the resources…or the personnel… But that's why I am just… I am so glad that you’re taking them. I don’t-” she choked on her words and it took her a moment to get the rest out, “I don’t think I could keep going if I had to do that. Having to do it when there’s nothing I can do is one thing, but having to… For no reason…” Her eyes were watering a bit as she was staring at the cart.
I reached out and gently placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Although that seemed to be the trigger for the dam that she had been holding up. Tears started to stream down her face and she crashed into me, pressing her face into my chest as she sobbed. I put my arms around her, rubbing her back.
Wigglytuff and Dee moved in to hug Joy as well, and it turned into a group hug. She had had a very long day and it had finally gotten to her. This was her home and they had attacked it. And it had not been subtle or gentle. They had sent a dozen people to steal a single Pokemon. I would say that it had been overkill, but the fact that it failed actually said that it wasn’t enough. That was a rather shocking realization. It had failed. Sure they were just grunts, but the fact that they failed was amazing.
It took a few minutes before Joy managed to calm herself down enough and stepped away. “I… I apologize.”
“It’s alright,” I said with a smile. “It’s been a long day.”
She took in a deep, shaky breath as she smoothed down her dress. “Yes… It has.”
“Are you going to be alright?” I asked, fiddling with my bag before pulling out a handkerchief and offering it to her.
There was a bit of a smile on her face as she took it, dabbing at her face. “Yes. I’ll be fine… thank you.”
I nodded, still giving her a smile. “You should go get some rest.”
She sighed. “I still have paperwork…” she mumbled.
I laughed softly as I moved to the cart, putting the stack of papers into my bag followed by slowly loading the pokeballs. “Paperwork will still be there in the morning. And you need the rest.”
She didn’t say anything, but just watched me. “You need rest, too.”
That caused me to sigh and nod. “Yeah. There are so many things to do, but they’re going to have to wait till I get up.”
There were a few moments of silence before I put the last pokeball away and turned to her. She had a rather concerned expression on her face. “Go sleep.”
I blinked at her. “I planned to?”
“I mean now,” she said as she crossed her arms. “I know what you’re trying to do. You’re saying what I want to hear, but you’ll do the bare minimum so that you’re technically not lying. My little sister did that all the time.”
I blinked at her a few times before chuckling a bit sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck. “That obvious?”
“You need sleep, Jason,” she said firmly and looked at Dee. “Make sure he goes to sleep.”
Dee gave a sort of salute, and turned to me. “You heard her.”
I put a hand over my chest, as if I was hurt. “What betrayal,” I said with a laugh.
She just huffed at me before grabbing my sleeve and began pulling. “Let’s go. I’m tired, too.”
That caused me to laugh as I followed after her. “Goodnight, Joy,” I said with a bit of a wave.
“Goodnight,” she replied with a slight bow, wigglytuff bowing slightly as well.
Dee dragged me all the way back to the room, which was quiet when we entered. On the floor in front of the television was Rio, Scoly, Primarina, and Diancie. All of them laying against Scoly. Cara was on the bed, sitting against the wall with Essy asleep on her lap. Eevee, Goomy, Banette, and Keo were all piled up at the foot of the bed near the floor pile. Movement under the bed told me that that was where Mikyu was.
Kneeling down beside the bed, I reached under and tried not to jump when my hand was suddenly grasped. “How are things going?” I asked softly.
“Almost done,” came Mikyu’s soft voice from under the bed. “I might be done by the morning?”
I smiled a bit. “Alright. I’m excited to see it.”
Her grip tightened for a moment before she let go.
I put down my bag, took off my coat, and then prepared for bed. Dee sat on the bed, waiting for me to be done. She was taking Nurse Joy’s words very seriously, which I found amusing. But, she had been right. I had planned to just rest for a bit before getting up.
Dee was giving me a look that was quite pointedly telling me that she wasn’t going to let me get away.
“Alright alright. I’m coming,” I said with a laugh. Sitting down on the bed, I took a moment to look at everyone and then at my bag, letting out a soft sigh. All I could really hope was that I could sleep.
The ringing of my phone woke me up, and I reached over, grabbing it from my nearby bag. “Hello?” I asked after taking a moment to find the answer button.
“Jason. What in Arceus am I looking at?” came a voice from the other side.
It took me a moment to be able to focus on the Officer Jenny I could see, and another moment before I recognized Adria. “I don’t know?” I said as I looked in the background of where she was. It was somewhere dimly lit, with metal panels behind her.
She frowned at me and it looked like she was about to say something before she realized all I could see was her. “Ah.” She hit a button that flipped the camera. When the screen focused on the thing it was pointed at I knew it immediately.
On the screen was a massive flower made of a chrome colored crystalline metal, a massive blue orb in the center acting as its stamin. “Ah. Yeah, that’s the Ultimate Weapon,” I said with a yawn.
There was a moment of silence. “You… You mean you weren’t kidding about that?” she asked, horrified.
“I wasn’t,” I said as I sat up, checking the time; it was about seven in the morning. “Don’t worry, it can’t be activated without AZ.”
“What is AZ?” she asked, a note of panic in her voice.
My brow furrowed. “Ah, I knew I forgot to explain something to you… AZ is the one who made that about three thousand years ago.”
She relaxed a bit. “Oh, so it can’t be activated.”
I scratched a bit at my chin. “I didn’t say that. AZ is immortal. But he shouldn’t be hard to recognize. He’s got white hair, is about nine feet tall, and is dressed like he’s homeless.”
When I focused back on the phone, it had flipped back to Adria and she had gone rather pale. “You’re telling the truth…”
“I am,” I said with a nod. “The machine also doesn’t have enough power to actually be activated. Team Flare’s goal is to capture a legendary, have the absorber within the machine drain its life energy, and then use the fully charged machine to destroy most life on the planet.”
She took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. “You sure know a lot… Did those Pokemon tell you all this?”
I just shrugged. “I don’t have to use that excuse anymore, since you have a vague idea. I can explain more later, but all that’s something to do in person.”
After a moment she nodded. “Right… We’re going to have quite a long conversation later.”
“But, since you’re there, I take it the raid went well?” I asked.
“The base was empty,” she said with a frown. “It looks like they don’t use it very often, if at all. There wasn’t even a single grunt… The Chief was pissed until they saw the weapon and the research on it.”
I frowned as well. “I guess without AZ in their custody, and a Pokemon to power it, there wasn’t a need to prioritize the weapon… Still I’m surprised that there was no one there.”
“There’s some evidence that there might have been, but they escaped the moment the raid started,” she practically growled as she spoke, kicking something that I couldn’t see. “But at least we now have possession of not only the weapon, but the base. It’s clearly Team Flare.”
“One problem down,” I said with a slight nod.
“One?” she immediately snapped, her focus on me.
“There are uh… two other plans that they have. They’re a bit harder to explain, although I’m fairly certain they haven’t even started one of them.” I rubbed my chin, again thinking about Alain. I really needed to know where he was right now…
“How do you- no that doesn’t matter right now…” She sighed softly. “I’m heading back to Anistar. And then we’re going to have a talk.”
I nodded a bit. “Yeah, sure. We can talk.”
She stared at me for a moment before nodding. “Right. I’ll see you soon,” she said before hanging up.
I sighed as I laid back in the bed, resting against Dee who had slept through the entire conversation. So much for keeping an eye on me and making sure I slept. I chuckled at that thought.
In fact everyone was still asleep, except for Cara who had apparently woken up from the phone ringing. I reached over and pat her hand slightly, just making a subtle gesture to tell her everything was alright.
Before I even realized I was asleep again, I was woken up by a knocking at the door. Everyone was up now, and I saw how they all tensed and stared at the door. The only one who was unconcerned was Essy, who was sitting on my chest eating a bean. I wondered who gave her that?
Cara opened the door to reveal Officer Jenny, and everyone relaxed, going back to watching television. They were all addicted. “Morning, Adria,” I said with a bit of a smile.
“It’s past noon,” she said as she stepped in, closing the door behind her.
“Ah, that’s two days in a row I’ve slept in,” I muttered as I picked up Essyand put her on my lap so that she didn’t go tumbling as I sat up, my neck feeling a bit stiff.
“So.” She moved over and sat down in the chair beside the bed.
“Straight to it, eh?” I asked as I rubbed my neck, trying to get rid of the knot. She just nodded. “Alright. Then I’m going to be blunt about it.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, forming the sentences in my head before saying it outloud. “I’m from a different world.” The room fell into nearly complete silence, the only noise coming from the television.
Everyone was just staring at me, and I realized that most of them didn’t know.
I laughed a bit. “Pokemon in my world are fiction, like that,” I said as I gestured to the Mystery Dungeon show. “Shows, books, movies, games. They aren’t real things.”
Adria’s brow furrowed. “That doesn’t-” she stopped, her brow furrowing even more. “Wait, you know the future?”
I was about to shake my head, or nod, but couldn’t figure out which to do. Instead I raised my hand, making a waffling gesture. “Yes and no? I’ve found that some of the things happen as I know them, but there’s a lot of differences. And there are things that exist that I have no knowledge of.” I paused for a moment, “Take this Team Flare stuff.” I shifted a bit. “The person who is supposed to deal with Team Flare isn’t even a Trainer yet. Or, they’re in a different region. Or they don’t exist.”
Her brow was furrowing more and more as I talked, to the point her eyebrows were practically touching. “I… I don’t think I follow.”
“It’s all timeline nonsense,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Technically everything happens, but we only see one result because that’s our timeline.”
“So… You know things, but those things might be wrong,” she said slowly.
I nodded. “Exactly. Which is why I’m reluctant to give information. If I say something, it will change the future to something that I don’t know about.”
She nodded slowly. “Olympia always says the future is muddled by our actions.”
“Exactly.”
“Then how did you know about the base?” she asked, her expression relaxing a bit, although she still looked confused.
“Because I checked.” Her eyes went a bit wide. “I didn’t go in, but I confirmed that the entrance was there.”
She leaned back in the chair a bit, folding her arms across her chest as she thought. “You mentioned things that exist you have no knowledge of? Like what?”
“The Association for starters,” I said with a sigh.
She blinked. “The Association doesn’t exist?”
“No. It’s why they caught me off guard. I didn’t know what extent of trouble to expect,” I explained with another sigh. “Which is frustrating. But I was getting too full of myself.”
“You are pretty full of yourself,” she said with a nod.
“Hey,” I said with a bit of a smile. “Rude.”
She giggled a bit, smiling back at me. “So, what else does Team Flare have planned?”
“Zygarde,” I said with a bit of a huff. “You can ask Sycamore. He has a Zygarde Cube, which is something that Team Flare needs in order to make a Zygarde. Well, it’s one way anyways. I’m fairly certain he still has it considering his reaction when I mentioned it.”
“Alright,” she said with a nod. “And what’s the other thing?”
“A big giant magic rock,” I said with a laugh.
She stared blankly at me, seemingly unable to form words.
That just made me laugh harder. “I’m serious! It’s a big rock made of condensed Primal Energy, that they decided to call the Giant Rock.”
“Giant…Rock…” she deadpanned, staring at me.
“Yeah, stupid name, right?” She didn’t respond, but nodded. “Yeah, anyways. I don’t think they have that yet. It’s in Hoenn, and is eventually found by Alain.”
Her brow furrowed again. “Sycamore’s assistant?”
I snapped my fingers, pointing at her. “Yes, him. Lysandre tricks him into helping Team Flare. I was going to ask Sycamore about him, but if he’s still his assistant then that means they won’t find the Giant Rock for a long time.” Suddenly I had a thought. I could find the stone. I know roughly where it is and how to get at it. If I stop Alain and Lysandre from getting it, then I could. But… What the heck would I even do with it? Something to think about. Honestly part of me wanted to go and find it myself just so that I could give it a better name.
Adria nodded. “Unfortunately we didn’t find anything linking Lysandre, or Lysandre Labs to Team Flare in the base.”
I let out a slight scoff. “Doesn’t surprise me, he’s smart. Insane, but smart.”
She nodded again, looking at me for a moment. “Thanks for telling me,” she said suddenly.
“Huh?” I focused a bit on her. “I mean, of course. They attacked me. Of course I’d want to hurt them back.”
This time she shook her head. “No, not about that. I mean about where you came from.”
I hesitated. “You believe me?”
Her face scrunched a bit. “I’m… Not sure. It sounds pretty far-fetched, but it explains so much about you and your actions.”
Now it was my turn for my eyebrows to furrow. “It does?”
“Yeah. You’re smart, well educated, and know an honestly ridiculous amount of stuff, but there’s so many basic things that you don’t know that imply you lack a basic understanding of… Not quite how the world works, but how this world works. Like, your morals and understanding of things is so different,” she explained, gesturing with her hands as she did.
I nodded a bit. “Yeah, they are. My world is… So different,” I said with a sigh.
She reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder. “That’s why I’m saying thank you.” She leaned back again. “But now I have to ask… Are there any other big, world ending events that I need to watch out for?”
I laughed softly. “You sure you want to know?”
That question actually caused her to hesitate. She was clearly asking herself if she actually did want to know.
“Team Flare isn’t the worst.” That statement caused her to flinch.
“There’s someone worse?” she asked softly.
“Team Galactic,” I said simply.
“That… Team in Sinnoh?” she asked, clearly still unsure if she wanted the answer.
I nodded. “Their goal is… similar to Team Flare, but worse. Cyrus is an absolute madman who wants to remake the entire galaxy in his image. He wants to erase everything and make it over himself.”
Poor Adria was going to have so many new wrinkles from the amount of furrowing her brow was doing. Her eyes were becoming unfocused as she was trying to digest everything that I had said.
“Many of his subordinates, even his co-leaders, don’t know his true goal. Some think they’re just capturing Pokemon. Others think they’re trying to make some sort of new energy…” I shook my head. “But… They should have been stopped already.”
“What?” Her eyes snapped to me.
“You should ask Cynthia for more information. She should have been there, if things went according to how I know.” I wasn’t going to mention Ash, as that felt like it would be weird to bring up some random Trainer.
“The Sinnoh League Champion?!” she practically shouted, jumping to her feet.
I jumped a bit at the outburst. “Yes?”
“Oh Arceus please not her…” she muttered before slumping into her chair, a far off look in her eyes. “Anyone but her…”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, Cynthia is sure something. I honestly can’t wait to meet her.”
“You’re going to regret thinking that,” she snapped. “People say she’s one of the strongest Trainers in the world,” her voice was suddenly soft, as if it were some sort of conspiracy.
My eyebrow raised slightly. “Yeah, I can believe that. Her Garchomp is crazy strong.”
Adria sighed. “Arceus I don’t want to talk with her…” She sighed again before suddenly slapping her cheeks. “Right. Okay. This is my job.” She stood back up. “Thanks for the talk. I have to-” she hesitated, taking a deep breath. “I have phone calls to make.”
She suddenly left in a hurry, almost slamming the door as she left. There was again near silence in the room, the tv still the only source of noise. Then the door suddenly flew open. “I almost forgot.” She pulled something out of her pocket and threw it at me. I was so caught off guard that it struck me in the chest. “There’s your pay for helping, Pokemon Expert.” And then she slammed the door again. Looking down at what she had thrown, it was a heavy envelope. Peeking inside revealed it was full of money. I guess anonymous tips got paid in cash.
The silence lasted for a few moments as I fiddled with the envelope before a voice said, “Strongest in the world, eh?” it was Rio, rubbing her chin in a motion that was clearly mimicking me. Not the worst habit to pick up from me, but a rather silly one.
“Strongest Trainer,” I said with a nod. “I can believe that. Cynthia is-” I paused, thinking about the long haired blonde. “An interesting character…” I actually had to wonder if I would get along with her. As I was thinking, another strong, long haired blonde individual came to mind suddenly. Lusamine.
I frowned a bit. The Aether Foundation, on the surface, was doing something similar to what I wanted to do. If I could… wait. If I could get to her before she became consumed by her obsession with Ultra Beasts, would I be able to work with her and her organization? That was something I was going to have to figure out when I went back to Alola.
That was annoying. If I had thought about that while back in Alola, I could have checked. I could have figured out if that was going to be a problem. How annoying…
But that was something for later. Which I felt like I was doing a lot. Things just kept having to be pushed back as more and more was added to my plate. I was going to need a much bigger plate.
Chapter 18
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - Mother of Rio
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - From Reflection Cave
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Goomy - Goomy - Full of dragon slug vibes
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart
Banette - Banette - Collected from the Supermart
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - Bread and butter Ice Beams
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.Wolf Pack:
Houndour x12 - Houndour
Houndoom x4 - Houndoom
Poochyena x4 - Poochyena
Mightyena x4 - Mightyena
Sneasel x2 - Sneasel
Chapter Text
I really needed to get up at this point. Adria left an hour ago, but I was still sitting in bed. It was just… after counting the money that she’d given me as a sort of tip reward, I had lost a lot of the feeling of urgency. Fifty thousand felt like a lot, and it was a lot for sure. But it also felt lacking considering that I had given them the location to a villain team base and a weapon capable of mass destruction.
But that didn’t really matter. I had one more thing that I wanted to do in Anistar, and things kept happening to prevent me from doing it. All I wanted to do was go to the Sundial at eight when it did its lightshow. And figure out if I can… what would be the proper term? Upgrade? Would upgrade be the proper term? Yeah sure, let's go with that. Upgrade my Key Stone.
Maybe just sitting and relaxing for the day was a good idea. The wolf pack wouldn’t need to be fed for a few days with how the stasis of the pokeball worked. That made me feel bad. How aware were they? They probably didn’t understand what was happening.
“I’m done,” came a soft voice that snapped me out of my thoughts. Looking over I saw two little shadow hands grab the edge of the bed and pull something up.
Immediately a smile split my face as I watched the little thing climb up the side. The first thing I saw were a pair of big blue ears pop over the side, with little upside down black v’s. Large red scribbly circles for the eyes, and a black mask around the blue head and muzzle with a jaggedy shaped mouth. Four little black dreads of hair sprouted from the back of the head, two on each side. The neck and body were colored tan, and there was a little spike between and above the two eyeholes. The bottom of the costume was black with a blue frill beneath it, and there was a long blue tail extending out the back.
I couldn’t keep the grin off my face even if I wanted to. “You are absolutely adorable, Mikyu,” I said before I grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. She let out a squeal of surprise as I snatched her up, which drew the attention of everyone. I spun her around and held her up for everyone to see. “Look at how cute she is!”
Rio gasped. “It’s me!” she exclaimed, scrambling over Scoly to get a closer look.
Everyone quickly moved over, peppering her with compliments as they marveled at her new costume. It was very well done, that was certain. Her hands grabbed hold of me, wrapping around my forearms. She was squirming a bit, embarrassed from all the praise, but it was so well done that it deserved it.
Cara seemed really impressed as well, examining it closer than anyone else. “Well done,” she said with a sharp nod, and pat Mikyu on the head. From her expression I figured that Cara had known what Mikyu was doing, but hadn’t seen it yet. Although it was clearly made to look more like Rio than it did like Cara, so the larger canine was clearly the inspiration. Specifically it was the black striped mask. Rio’s mask had a bit more of a curved edge under her left eye, as if it hadn’t finished changing from her evolution, while Cara’s was symmetrical. This curve had been a bit exaggerated in the costumes design to draw attention to it.
“Yes, yes. Now we have another blue one,” Diancie said, twirling slowly in celebration.
It was a few minutes before everyone calmed down, and Mikyu was allowed some space. Or at least she would have, if I hadn’t wanted to keep looking at her little costume. I had figured that she had some skill, but honestly this was really impressive. Did all Mimikyu have this level of skill?
Eventually I put her down. “Very well done, Mikyu. It looks fantastic,” I said as I rubbed her side.
She seemed to have a pleased expression on her face, her eyes closing a bit as she enjoyed the touch. “It-it took so lo-long because I-I wanted it to be per-perfect.”
“Well, you succeeded,” I said with a smile. She beamed up at me, clearly happy at the praise. She moved away, quickly darting over to Banette and communicating in whatever manner they did so. Banette seemed pleased, and the two linked hands and did a little dance on the corner of the bed.
Just the sight of that brought a big smile to my face. It had been a whim to take both of them, maybe a bit selfish of me since Mimikyu is one of my favorite Pokemon, and I was always very fond of Banette… but I was glad I took them. And I was glad that they wanted to be here.
Before everyone could fully turn their attention back to the television, I decided that there was still a conversation that needed to be had. None of them had brought it up, but I occasionally caught curious glances. A puzzled expression. Someone trying to form words, but unsure how to start. It was causing a sort of tension to build and I needed to get rid of it.
“Alright.” I shifted a bit to get into a more comfortable position, the simple word drawing everyone's focus. It had been a really good idea to train them all to be so attentive to my words. “I figure everyone has some questions about the conversation that Adria and I had earlier. And I’m kind of surprised no one’s asked anything yet. I’ve tried really hard to press upon all of you that you can talk to me about anything.”
There were a few moments of silence as everyone seemed to be unsure. Eventually Cara spoke up, “I found out a while ago… And my first question was if he wanted to go back…”
“To which the answer was, and still is, no,” I said and I saw everyone visibly relaxed. “I don’t even know if I could, but if he tries it… I’ll fight Arceus himself if he tries to send me back.” That caused most of the tension to leave the room.
I was a bit surprised as Rio moved over to sit in front of me. “I don’t think any of us care where you came from,” she said as she looked back for confirmation. Everyone seemed to nod in agreement. “But we just want to know you won’t leave us.”
There was a smile on my face as I shook my head and reached out to rub the top of her head. “I won’t. I’m not leaving any of you. What kind of papa would I be if I did?”
Immediately it looked like she had bitten into a lemon and her face turned from blue to red. It still surprised me that despite the fur, Pokemon could blush so visibly. “I… I mean- What I meant was- You uh- You heard that?”
I just smiled more at her as I nodded. “You did scream it pretty loud.”
She seemed to deflate on the spot, her ears drooping a bit. “I just… I was so scared…”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed of, Rio,” I said softly, continuing to rub the top of her head. “Being part of this family means I’ve taken you in. You’re part of this family. All of you are.”
“So I can call you papa, too?” Scoly suddenly asked, seeming to perk up a bit.
A rather hearty laugh escaped me. “Sure. That’s fine.”
Diancie grasped my free hand, gripping onto my fingers and reminding me just how small her hands were. “Papa?”
I rubbed at her hands with my fingers. “Yeah. I can be your papa, too, Diancie.”
Then I was quite unceremoniously tackled by a huge, sobbing, mess of a seal, knocking my clean over. “Me too!” she practically yelled into my chest. She was quickly followed by several others who dogpiled on top of me, clinging to me. Even Essy and Dee joined in on the pile. The only one who refrained was Cara.
Several minutes passed of me just holding onto as many of them as I could as they clung to me. “Wait, if you’re papa, what does that mean for mama? Does that mean…” Rio questioned, her voice fading with her last words, and everyone’s attention turned to Cara.
Our eyes met and both of our faces scrunched almost at the same exact time. “No,” Cara said firmly with more conviction than I had ever heard in her tone.
I laughed, hard. It quickly turned into a belly laugh that made everyone on top of me shake from the force. “Am I that unappealing?” I asked in a joking manner.
Cara’s face scrunched a bit more. “While you are very important, and I hold you dearly in my heart and mind,” Her face was turning a deep shade of red as she spoke, “I have lost all attraction for men.”
“Co-parents then,” I said with a nod, everyone nodding along with me.
Cara huffed, and folded her arms, face still red as she averted her gaze. “Yeah, sure.” Despite her expression, her tail was wagging a bit.
While the conversation had derailed, at least now the tension was gone and everything seemed fine. Hopefully they would come and talk to me if they had any questions. As for the rest of the day, I decided to spend it relaxing and just making pokeblocks. I needed to start Essy on them, and not just feed her beans. Even if that was all she seemed to want to eat. When I was done, I now had enough to get me through till the end of next month for everyone. It was still early in this month, so it would be nearly two months worth.
About an hour before it was time for the lightshow, I gave everyone a pokeblock, including Essy. She was a bit reluctant at first, since it wasn’t a bean, but immediately changed her tune about them after actually eating it. Speaking of the little feline, there was something very important that I had to do. I picked her up, putting her on my lap. “Essy, do you want to travel with me?” I asked.
Most of the room went quiet as they watched, understanding what was going on. Although Essy just seemed confused. “I am?” she questioned.
I smiled a bit. “You are, yeah. But, do you know what this is?” I asked as I pulled a pokeball out of my bag.
She nodded slowly. “Capture thingy. Mama told me about them.”
“It’s a pokeball,” I said nodding, a bit of a smile. “And in order to travel with me, I have to use one of these to capture you. That way no one can steal you away like those bad men tried to do.”
There was a bit of a frown on her face, but that was the only emotion she showed. “Pokeball…” She turned to me. “Pokebean?”
I smiled a bit more. “Yes, you can have more pokebeans.”
That was a good enough answer for her as she reached out and tried to grasp the pokeball, only to disappear in a red light. I took a deep breath before letting her back out, watching as she wobbled a bit. I gave her a bean, which she happily took. “Bean!”
I gently pet her a few times before returning her to the pokeball and standing up. As much as I didn’t want to keep her in there, it was something that she was going to have to get used to, as I didn’t want people seeing her and causing an incident. Thankfully the bean vanished with her into the ball, which was interesting. Pokeballs sure were a magical and mysterious thing.
“Alright. We’re heading out.” I announced, picking up Eevee and putting her in my hood. The little fox had been just as lethargic as usual all day, though she’d been struggling to keep awake so that she could watch Mystery Dungeon. “We’ve got a show to watch.”
Goomy, Keo, Banette, and Mikyu all jumped up onto Scoly’s back. Well, Goomy didn’t since she was already perched on the large bug's head. That seemed to be her favorite spot. I hesitated a moment, nearly forgetting about the other attention grabber in my group.
I was honestly shocked that no one had come after me for Diancie, but I had done a much better job at hiding her I think. “I’ll bring you out for the show, Diancie,” I said with a smile. She did a little twirl as she nodded, and I returned her.
That left Primarina, who actually opened my coat. “I’m not flopping through the streets,” she declared before returning herself.
A soft snort escaped me. “Alright. Does anyone else want to go in their pokeball?”
“I think I’d like the rest,” Dee said as she came up, also returning herself. She was still reeling from yesterday, so I didn’t really blame her for not wanting to go out.
Everyone else wanted to stay out, so we all made our way down the hall. Cara was walking in front of me with Rio, the two of them giving off an oddly protective feeling. I suppose solidifying what we all were to each other had firmed up some of our family dynamics. That had been really easy for me to accept.
I wondered when I had started seeing them as my children?
Stopping at the counter, I took a look at the Nurse Joy, immediately noting how it wasn’t the one who helped with the wolf pack. I still gave her a smile as I placed down the keycard for my room. “Leaving so late?” she asked curiously.
I nodded and looked back, watching as Scoly made her way through the doorway. Normally, she wouldn’t fit, however it hadn’t been fixed from when she blasted through it previously, so it was more a hole than a doorway. “Yeah. We’re going to go watch the lights and then head off,” I responded.
“I see… Well… I wish you luck and safe travels.” She gave a bow that was much lower than normal. “And thank you. Thank you so much.”
“It’s- It’s fine,” I said as I put my hands up. There were some curious looks from other people. “It was kinda my fault they were here in the first place.”
“Yes,” she replied bluntly as she straightened up. “But you still went out of your way to make sure everything was alright. Most people wouldn’t do that.”
“I think you’re selling a lot of people short. Fear is what usually stops someone, not an unwillingness to help,” I said with a bit of a smile.
Joy got a rather contemplative look on her face as she thought about it, slowly nodding. “Yeah… I can see that.”
“Fear is the mind-killer,” I said with a slight chuckle. No one else laughed, and I got a lot of puzzled looks. Cara and Rio both mimicked a head tilt in the same direction. It was a shame they didn’t have Dune in this universe. “Nevermind,” I said with a slight cough. “Anyways. I hope the other Joy gets plenty of rest.”
Joy nodded. “She was put on temporary leave earlier today. Which is standard for incidents like this.”
I nodded. “Alright. Give her my best when you see her next.”
She nodded and gave another bow as we made our way out into the city. I could hear the menagerie on Scoly’s back excitedly talking and pointing things out. They also got quite a bit of attention, and I realized we were sort of like our own little parade, with the massive bug being the float. Rio had fallen back to walk more with Scoly, talking to her about the Mystery Dungeon show. Cara was to my side and slightly being me. She seemed a bit wary, but thankfully she wasn’t on edge, just had an air of cautiousness.
As we walked out onto the stone bridges that made up the lake side of the city, I saw the Sundial for the first time. It was absolutely massive. That was what I realized first. It was a pink crystal the size of a four story building. And this was just the top of it. I could see it extend downward into the water.
The Sundial caught the light in fantastical ways, shining soft rays from the setting sun over the ground. Each beam of light felt… warm. Warmer than the light from the actual sun.
“Whoa…” I heard Rio, Scoly, Keo, and Goomy all say at the same time as they looked at it. Scoly seemed to be following me more on reflex than under her own power. Even Cara seemed a bit gobsmacked.
Of course the feeling was mutual. Again even the visuals from the anime did nothing to show off the splendor of this massive crystal. And in the center of this building sized gem was a hole that the sun was close to piercing through.
It was a bit surprising that there weren’t more people around. I would expect this spectacle to draw a daily crowd, but I guess the locals were used to it. There were a few people, but they weren’t actually anywhere near the Sundial. I released Diancie, Dee, Primarina, and Essy, placing the little feline onto Scoly’s back.
“Whoa…” Primarina said softly, which made me smile at how her reaction was so similar.
“Hey,” I said softly as I reached back into my hood, pulling Eevee out and cradling her in my arms.
“Whoa…” she said softly, which made me smile even more.
Diancie looked almost manic as she stared wide eyed at the crystal. “That’s the second biggest crystal I’ve ever seen,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.
I snorted a bit as I glanced from her to the stone. It was true, the Heart Diamond had been much bigger. Dee moved to stand by Cara and me, the two of them gazing at the crystal as we walked. Essy seemed more interested in… well, nothing. Her gaze was a bit unfocused and she was staring out into the distance across the lake.
We all stopped beside the sundial, and I looked down at it as I watched the beam of light slowly travel closer to it. One arm cradling Eevee, while my other hand was in my pocket, fiddling with my Key Stone. How would upgrading it work? Would it be like in the game and resonate with nearby Mega Stones? Would this even do anything?
Question after question flashed through my mind as the light finally struck the dial through the hole. Slowly the rings began to spin, one after another. Every rotation caused another to start turning until every single one was slowly shifting. Then it began to snow. But it wasn’t little flakes of ice, instead it was tiny motes of light that fell from the sky.
All around these little lights seem to fall and flutter in the wind. With the lights came the type of quiet that you get with late night snowfall. The comforting silence of it. But it wasn’t cold. For a moment I forgot it was winter, as the snow that was falling felt warm. Like a gentle touch from a warm hand.
Looking back, the sight brought a big smile to my face. While most of my family was standing, seeming awestruck, Keo, Banette, Mikyu, and Goomy were running around chasing after Diancie, who was laughing and giggling in the light fall. Whenever the lights hit one of her diamonds, it flashed a soft pink.
Slowly I pulled out the Key Stone, looking down at it. It was giving off a soft glow. For a moment I wondered how all of this was connected. The Heart Diamond. Diancie. The Sundial. Mega Evolutions. They all seemed intertwined in some way.
I reached down, gently touching the Key Stone to the Sundial, and there was a sudden flash out of the corner of my eye. Looking over, I saw Diancie in her Mega Evolution form. She seemed just as puzzled by the sudden transformation as I was, but quickly shrugged it off as she went back to playing her game with the others, Rio and Scoly joining in, much to the surprise of Essy who was still on her back.
“Pretty…” Eevee said softly and I looked down, at the stone still touching the Sundial. The symbol inside was slowly spinning, and the colors were swirling around. I had the sudden urge to let it go. As if something was gently pulling on it, softly asking for it. I hesitated, but let it go and watched as it began to roll around the Sundial.
Immediately I realized that there were grooves on the rings, and the little marble was following a path. I quickly pulled my phone out of my bag, recording the interesting interaction. That was fascinating… Did Sycamore know about this? I tried not to frown at the thought, pushing any sort of notion of telling him about this out of my mind. He could figure it out on his own.
The Key Stone continued its slow journey, lazily passing from one ring to the next until it came to the sphere in the center and rolled up it. It came to rest in the center and I watched as it turned slowly. Or maybe it was standing still and all the movement around it made it look like it was moving. It was hard to tell.
After a minute it suddenly rolled off the center orb, pulling something with it, and began its lazy journey back through the rings until it came to a stop in front of me. The ring was still moving, but the little marble was rolling at a matching speed, making it seem like it was motionless in front of me. There was something that sparkled slightly attached to it, but I wasn’t sure what it was.
I shifted my phone to the arm holding Eevee, making sure I wasn’t going to drop her before reaching down, and gingerly picking the small orb back up. My train of thought was interrupted as it felt… warm. The warmth seeped into my hand and up my arm for a few moments before dissipating, although the Key Stone still felt warm. It left my arm with a slight tingly sensation.
Looking back towards Diancie, she was dancing in the lights, and rather than chasing her, the group had joined in on her dance. Even Dee and Cara had gone to join in on the fun. The soft voice of Primarina drew my attention next, as she was quietly singing. It didn’t entirely look like she realized she was doing it, but she had a huge smile on her face. It was a nice melody, though I couldn’t understand the words if there were any. I shifted the aim of my phone, now recording their dance, making sure to get an angle that also had Primarina in it.
However, eventually the sun dipped down, no longer shining through the hole and the wisps of light began to fade until there were no more. Everyone seemed to slowly come back to their senses, as if they hadn’t really realized what they’d done. But rather than any sort of worry, they all looked happy.
Diancie’s form slowly glowed as she transformed back to her regular form, wearing probably the biggest smile out of all of them.
I turned my attention back to the Sundial that was still slowly turning, then to the Key Stone in my hand. I studied the thing attached to it and actually let out a laugh as I realized what it was. It was a sort of hair tie that seemed to have been attached to the stone. Had my thoughts from earlier influenced this? That was very interesting. It didn’t look any different otherwise, but it still felt warm, and it felt like the warmth wasn’t going to go away. So maybe this was the upgraded form? Hair accessory mode? I wouldn’t know until I potentially came across a Mega Stone. That was a lot of fanfare for what essentially broke down to a metal detector.
I spent a few more moments fiddling with the little stone while everyone now came over to marvel at the Sundial. A little brown paw was suddenly placed on the Key Stone and I looked at Eevee who had a quizzical look on her face. “What’s this?”
Before I answered, I stopped the recording and shoved my phone into my coat pocket. I didn’t want to reveal anything in a video that I was going to possibly show people. “It’s part of what allows Mega Evolutions,” I explained with a bit of a smile. “Doing this is supposed to help me find Mega Stones, but I don’t know if it worked.”
I swore Cara gave herself a bit of whiplash with how fast her head snapped towards me. “We can find Mega Stones?”
“Maybe,” I said with a bit of a frown. “We’ll have to look around, and maybe dig a bit.” I saw the way Dee grimaced at the idea. Then I had an idea. Maybe I could teach some of the wolf pack? Dogs liked digging, so maybe?
That reminded me that I had a bunch of dogs to deal with. I sighed a bit. “Alright, let’s get going.”
“To Laverre?” Dee asked.
I hesitated. I know Dee wanted to go and check on Valerie, but I had the dogs to deal with… Maybe Valerie would let me use the gym? It was worth a shot. “Yeah. Let’s go to the train.” I put Eevee back in my hood before I tied the Key Stone up into my hair.
~
Thankfully Laverre was close, so there was still a train that would be heading there tonight. Unfortunately it was the last one and wouldn’t arrive for another hour. I was tempted to try and ride Scoly there, but that was a long distance through unfamiliar terrain at night and I didn’t want to chance anything.
Almost everyone wanted to go back to their pokeballs, so now it was just me, Cara, Eevee, and Goomy sitting on a bench and waiting for the train. I was a bit surprised that Goomy didn’t want to return, but she had been a bit restless since finding out she was close to evolving. And she’d been disappointed when the last little skirmish hadn’t been enough. So in an attempt to cheer her up, I was petting and squishing her.
The odd slimy layer she had was honestly fascinating. Squishy and slightly sticky, but it actually took some effort in order to remove. It was also quite a lot of fun to play with her like a giant stress ball, and she seemed to enjoy it judging by how much giggling she was doing.
The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly rose and I saw Cara straighten out of the corner of my eye. It had suddenly gotten very quiet, except for the giggles of the little slug. Glancing around just made me feel even more uneasy. I could have sworn there were other people around a moment ago.
Then I heard the clack of shoes and turned towards the noise. Four bald men and a woman with long red hair walked out from a station entrance at the other side of the platform. All five of them wore white suits, with red gloves and matching sunglasses.
I sighed softly as I stood up, putting Goomy up on my shoulder. Cara got up as well, eying the new people. There was an unsure feeling coming from her, as if she was assessing them for how much of a threat they’d be. Eevee propped herself up on my other shoulder, having seemingly sensed the… Malice? I wasn’t sure what exactly I was feeling, or if it was actually a thing, but it was almost like there was some sort of thick, sickly sweet smell in the air.
They walked towards me until there was about thirty feet between us and simply stood there. “I must have really pissed him off if he escalated to sending Admins,” I commented as I turned to face them. There was an almost giddy sensation that ran through my chest as I realized this was like some sort of western stand off.
Too bad we were in the wrong climate for tumbleweeds.
Unfortunately none of them seemed to react to my statement as they, presumably, tried to stare me down. “Hand over the variant, and the mythic,” the woman said.
I shoved my hands into my coat pockets, frowning at her. “Well well, you sound confident,” I said with a bit of a smirk. Quickly I began to type a text to Adria, glad that my phone was in my pocket. Hopefully I didn’t make too many typos.
“We won’t ask a second time,” one of the men to her right said.
“This isn’t going to go the way you think,” I said, doing my best to sound confident. “You attack me, you fail, I escalate and give Jenny the location of your Geosenge base.” Three of the men flinched. “You attack again, you’re going to fail again, and… Hm… what juicy information should I give to Jenny this time?”
“How do you-”
“Shut it,” the woman snapped, cutting off one of the men. The two Admins that were further back looked at each other before refocusing on me. I was fairly certain she was glaring at me, judging by the shape of her brow.
“What’s the point of glaring at me when you’re wearing sunglasses?” I asked with a bit of a laugh. I felt a slight buzz in my hand and the ping of me receiving a message sounded like a cannon went off in the quiet of the station.
With no concern I pulled the phone out of my pocket to check the message. It looks like I had succeeded in messaging Adria, though I had misspelled a few things.
‘Trion statiob flare heelp’
Good enough, especially since the reply was ‘on my way’. I put the phone away and turned my attention back to the group of Admins. They were hesitant, clearly unsure what to do and seemed to be looking at the woman for some sort of order. “If you aren’t going to submit, then we will make you,” she said as she pulled a pokeball from her pocket.
All four of the other Admins followed suit, pulling pokeballs from inside their jackets.
I waited to see if they would send out their Pokemon, or pull out another pokeball, but they just seemed to stand there as if waiting. Wait, were they actually waiting for me to call out my Pokemon? I glanced at Cara who had tensed up, but hadn’t gotten into a fighting stance.
“Just five?” I questioned aloud, which caused all of them to flinch. “Team Flare Admins only have one Pokemon?”
As if to respond to my question, one of the men scrambled to pull out a second pokeball.
“So, six,” I said with a slight nod. “Well, that might be a fair fight if I was a Trainer.” The four men looked at each other and then around, unsure of what I meant. “Let me ask you… Do you know what Pokemon my variant is?”
My question was met with silence, but there was an expression on some of the men, particularly the one in the back left that suddenly looked concerned.
“Do you know what my mythic is?” I asked as I made a show of grabbing the hem of my coat.
However I was once again met with silence.
“Do you know any of my Pokemon?” I questioned as my smile widened. I had to assume all five of them looked at Cara, or Goomy, in response. “This is about to be a beat down that none of you are ever going to forget.”
And then it was like a quick draw, all five of them threw their pokeballs as I threw open my coat. The entire station platform was bathed in red as Pokemon sprang out. Rio, Scoly, Primarina, Diancie, Keo, and to my surprise, Banette all flashed in front of me. On the other side of the station two Houndoom, three Mightyena, and a Liepard appeared.
They hesitated, clearly not expecting that many Pokemon. While they stood there, all I could think was that the wolf pack was about to get bigger. “Don’t let them escape,” I said, and honestly surprised myself with how coldly I had said it.
In a flash, Rio and Cara were there, each one going after a Houndoom. But to my surprise, not only had both Houndoom managed to react, they avoided the orange and silver aura’d paw strikes and countered with flamethrowers, which both struggled to dodge. These were much better trained Pokemon.
“Get him!” the woman called, pointing at me and three of them men nodded and issued orders to their Pokemon. The three Mightyena and Liepard rushed forward, ignoring the dog fight in progress.
Scoly had already started to spin up, while Dee rushed in and attempted to grab the charging Liepard, who was the fastest of the four running, but they easily leapt back out of the grasp. However it was immediately struck with a high pressure water cannon before it could even land back on its feet and was sent flying out over the tracks.
The three dogs leapt over Dee at me, however they didn’t make it very far before being flattened to the ground as Diancie used Gravity with a downward flick of her wrist, focusing it on them. I was more than a little surprised to see them hardly struggle to get back up onto their feet, growling as they did so, as the Liepard hopped back onto the platform, looking a bit more drowned than it had previously. Well, two of the canines got up anyway as Keo ice beamed one of them and froze them to the floor before they could get up.
Alright, Admins were no joke.
I staggered a bit from the force of Goomy launching herself off of me, a bit surprised that the little slug could put that much force into a jump. She burst into the blue of dragon energy before colliding into one of the Mightyena, sending it sprawling back. I think that she just used Outrage? Then Scoly shot forward through the gap, slamming into one of the Houndoom to join the fight with Cara and Rio.
Primarina moved more in front of me, while Dee moved back to cover my side, both of them clearly moving into a defensive position. Most of the opponents were occupied, but they had apparently decided that protecting me was the priority. A good choice considering the chaotic nature of the battle, and probably the best since the seal's best moves were wide area attacks, and Dee was still technically supposed to be support.
The third Mightyena tried to come forward, growling something at Primarina before getting absolutely plastered with what I realized was a large chunk of the floor. I looked back at the now large hole in the floor and then up at Diancie who had a rather pleased look on her face. “Maybe don’t cause so much property damage, please? You have Diamond Storm.”
Her face turned into a frown and her cheeks puffed up a bit. “But I like throwing rocks.”
I snorted. “That’s not a rock, that’s the floor.”
She just shrugged in response before lifting the chunk of floor back up and slamming it back to where it had been previously. Although she had clearly put it back wrong on purpose.
“Thank you,” I said with a chuckle before turning forward. Cara, Scoly, and Rio seemed to be having some difficulties against the two Houndoom, who were working together with extremely precise efficiency. They’d cover for each other, one would attack, the other defend. One would feint or bait an attack, just for the other to take advantage of it. But they were being worn down since it was a three on two.
Although it was honestly impressive. It was clear the two of them had been trained together extensively, but I could also see the way they were arguing with each other, even from here. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but their expressions and constant jerky movements towards each other told an interesting story.
They were probably fierce rivals, but that could be figured out later. The Mightyena who had had its world rocked was quick to shake off the attack, only for Diancie to begin pelting it with Diamonds. I felt bad for the poor dog.
Goomy seemed to be faring… well? It was hard to tell. The Mightyena she was fighting was using her as a chew toy, but she seemed completely unaffected by it and was actually using Absorb to sap away its energy while replenishing her own. I also imagine that she didn’t taste very good, judging by the expression the canine was making.
The other Mightyena had broken free of the ice and tackled Keo, changing its target from me to the ice fox, and the two of them were currently rolling on the ground as they fought. Keo was biting and clawing as best as she could while little spikes of ice formed in the air and pelted the Mightyena, who was meanwhile using Bite in retaliation.
Wait, where was the Liepard?
My eyes swept around the platform until I saw the cat hiding under a bench, its back arched, hissing and swiping at Banette. How did they get over there? When did they get over there? I hadn’t even seen Banette leave my side. But most importantly… Why were they so absolutely terrified of the little plush doll?
I had missed something there.
It was nice that Banette seemed to actually want to fight in some capacity. I’d have to ask her if she wanted to be a battler, since I had apparently misjudged what she wanted to do.
A dog suddenly rushed past me and slammed into Diancie, refocusing me on what was happening around. Apparently it had had enough of being struck by the painful little diamonds. Its mouth glowed with dark energy as it bit down on her and she let out a little pained noise before the dog was blasted off of her with a Aqua Jet from Primarina.
Before the Mightyena could even hit the ground naturally, it was slammed down by another focused Gravity move. However this time it didn’t try to get back up, clearly too hurt to continue. Diancie held it there for a moment before seemingly realizing it was out and then turned away with a huff.
Glancing back I saw Scoly be knocked away and down the platform by a rather well placed hit that caused the Admins to scatter to avoid being bowled over by the bouncing bug. That almost looked like the Houndoom had aimed it at them. Glancing at the walls, floor, and ceiling of the station I winced. Hopefully I wouldn’t be required to pay for this…
Looking back at Banette and the Liepard, I was even more baffled by the sight that met me. The feline was now sitting calmly, cleaning one of its paws while Banette sat in front of it. What was even going on over there? The female Admin who was obviously its Trainer seemed just as confused.
“Police! Nobody move!” came a shout from behind the Admins and almost everyone paused to look. There was Adria, face a bit red and panting, clearly having run here from her car. She must have been fairly nearby for her to get here so quickly… I’d have to ask her later what she was doing to sate my paranoia. The Manectric named Trakky was stanced up beside her, and there was a Machamp wearing a police vest standing behind her.
The only ones who didn’t look were Keo, Goomy, and the Mightyena they were fighting, since they were clearly too focused on their battles to realize what was going on around them. Since those were the only source of noises, naturally everyone's attention slowly drifted to them. The one Mightyena was frantically trying to now get Goomy out of its mouth, as if getting desperate, flailing and clawing at her. It seemed it had realized what was going on and tried to get her off, but I knew all too well that the little slug wouldn’t let go until it wanted to.
Then we all looked at Keo and the one it was fighting as the two slowly rolled across the platform. “Well, it’s not a tumbleweed, but it’s close enough,” I said with a laugh, causing everyone to look at me. I coughed, putting my hand up to hide my embarrassment.
Thankfully I was saved by a sudden thump, the Mightyena Goomy was battling finally collapsed, unable to stay up. Only then did the little slug move away, breathing heavily and I realized that she had suffocated the dog until it passed out. Yeah that was scary. That was the second time that she had latched onto her opponents face and just tried to outlast them. And it worked both times.
Then it was silent for a moment, the only sound being the two tumbling Pokemon, until Goomy let out a triumphant shout of “Yeah!”
That seemed to break whatever spell was going on and everything erupted into combat once again. Although the fighting didn’t last for more than a few more moments. Trakky rushed in to help Rio and Cara with the Houndoom, while Adria and Machamp moved in to apprehend the Admins. They tried to fight back, Adria taking an elbow to the face, but then Dee and Scoly moved to assist her.
Adria wrestled a pokeball from the female Admin, but by the time she raised it up to return whatever Pokemon it belonged to, the fight was over. She was breathing heavily, eyes scanning over the field.
I glanced over at Keo, who was standing on top of the Mightyena, a big, toothy, and bloody grin on her face. Her breath came out in ragged puffs of frosty air. I looked at the others, although the little ice fox was the most hurt. “Reckless,” I muttered as I moved over to her and scooped her up.
“I won,” she huffed, trying to steady her breathing.
“If you keep fighting like that, you’re going to get hurt more,” I said softly, stroking her head.
“As long as I can keep fighting,” she grumbled.
I moved closer to Adria, watching as she was cuffing one of the Admins. Scoly was sitting on two of them, while Machamp had the other two up in the air, holding them by their jackets. Dee moved past me and I handed Keo to her so that she could get her fixed up and start working on the rest of the team.
“You’re lucky the station is so close to the train,” Adria panted, still trying to catch her breath as she stood up.
Slowly I nodded, looking over the Team Flare members. “These are Admins of Team Flare. They work closely with Lysandre and the scientists.” The eyes of all three conscious members snapped towards me.
She adjusted her vest, looking down at the woman on the ground who was glaring up at me. “So these are their big guns?”
Again I nodded as I knelt down, the woman watching me the entire time. She had an expectant look on her face, like she expected me to gloat, or taunt her. However I just reached over and picked up the pokeball that Adria had put down, before standing back up. That seemed to shock her even more. Now that I was this close, I realized that that sickly sweet smell was some sort of perfume the woman was wearing. Or I suppose bathed in would be a more proper way to describe it considering how pungent the smell was. “They’re important, and I’m sure Lysandre will be annoyed. Although they can’t be too important considering they were sent after me,” I said with a shug.
I stiffened a bit as I felt something claw its way up my back, until there was an extremely large feline standing on my shoulders. “That thing better not have lied,” it hissed.
Looking down, I was just in time to see Banette reach up and grab my left hand, smiling up at me. “I’m not sure what she told you, but it was probably accurate.”
“What?” Adria asked, also a bit tense at seeing the Liepard standing on my shoulders. The damn cat was heavy. It wasn’t fun to have something in the ballpark of eighty pounds on my shoulders, but I guess I’ll just have to deal with it.
“This one appears to have changed sides,” I said as I gestured at the cat.
“Wha- Traitor!” the woman on the ground shouted.
“I want good food!” the cat shouted back, its back arching slightly. “I’m so sick and tired of that shitty dry food that I never get enough of!” Its claws dug a bit into my shoulder, which made me glad for the jacket. “I’m sick of starving!”
Without even thinking about it, I immediately pulled out a pokebean and held it up to the cat. “There’s quite a bit of animosity between the two it seems,” I explained to Adria, who just looked confused. It didn’t take even a full second after I held up the bean for the Liepard to snatch it and leap down from my shoulders. It greedily devoured the bean like it hadn’t eaten in days. “Poor thing…”
It flinched, and glared back at me. “I don’t need your pity,” it hissed before turning back to the bean.
Adria had started to cuff the other four, the two that were under Scoly had passed out, probably from being crushed by her weight. I followed behind her, relieving them of their pokeballs and returning the unconscious canines.
When I had all six pokeballs, I stared at them for a moment. “Two more Houndoom, three Mightyena, and a Liepard to the wolf pack,” I said with a sigh. Thirty two.
I was a bit surprised when Adria handed me an odd sort of cylinder with dozens of bands around it. “You’ll need this.”
After I took it I realized what it was. It was a sort of holster for the pokeball lock bands. I nodded as I put it around five of the six balls before slipping them into my bag. I glanced at the Liepard, who was now licking the floor in some desperate attempt to claim any crumbs it had missed, looking like it was on the brink of tears. Just seeing that made my heart ache.
I knelt down and placed another pokebean next to them. “I have more,” I said softly.
They pounced on the bean and began to devour it like their life depended on it. It looked like it was trying really hard to fight back tears. I took out another and placed it down beside them, noticing how they tensed from the movement but relaxed when they saw what I did. I didn’t know the extent of the abuse, but I was sure that women had been using food as a reward and was probably just not feeding them when they didn’t perform well enough.
I stood back up, looking back at the other Pokemon. Rio and Cara were sitting on a bench, leaning against each other and breathing heavily. They’d never been up against opponents with that sort of teamwork. Something to work on.
Team battles were a thing after all, and it would probably help them greatly to have some training time working on cooperation. The two Lucario were the best at working together, but they had struggled so much. Granted I don’t think those Houndoom were working together willingly, but there was no denying how well they did.
“Could you help me carry them?” Adria asked Scoly, who nodded. That honestly made me smile a bit that she hadn’t asked me, but had actually asked the Pokemon. That showed she definitely saw them as their own person. Machamp then put three of them on her back, while it carried the other two. All of them making their way back out of the exit. Hopefully Adria had called in backup.
Diancie was collecting her diamonds, grumbling about not being able to throw more rocks. Primarina was helping her, since they had really scattered all over the place. I realized that a good portion of the station platform had a sprinkling of little pink diamonds.
A sudden bright light caught all of our attention and I looked over to where Goomy had been. She was now glowing a sort of blue light that slowly shifted and morphed until she solidified. She had grown considerably and now resembled a snail, her eyes had become larger and green, two spots on either side of her cheek as well as little nubby arms. “Yes!” She shouted, putting her arms in the air and hopping around in her new form. Everyone immediately started to join in on her celebration, Banette letting go of my hand to run over.
Diancie didn’t hesitate to pick her up, holding the new Sliggoo up in the air. “Evolution!” she declared, a big smile on her face.
I supposed that that battle had been enough to push her over the threshold. Evolution had to do with internal energy reserves, and breaking over that limit caused a shift in form and a massive spike in overall energy. Of course the reserves could be increased without evolution, but it all somehow evened out. I felt that my knowledge was lacking, like I was missing something. Maybe if I wanted to know more I could ask Professor Rowan.
All of the Pokemon were marveling at her new form when I stepped over. “Congratulations, Sliggoo,” I said with a smile, and she leapt from Diancie’s hands and collided into my shoulder, causing me to stumble back a bit. She had doubled in size and had sextupled in weight, now somewhere around forty pounds.
“I evolved,” she said, a big smile on her face as a few tears escaped her big green eyes.
Reaching up, I started to pet her. “Yes, you did. Good job.” I smiled a bit and looked around at everyone again, then looked at Dee. “Everyone okay?”
She nodded in response. “All the major injuries have been treated… But everyone but myself, Primarina, and Banette will need a Pokecenter. Keo especially.”
I looked down at the little ice fox, who had the good mind to at least look a bit sheepish. “Right.” I reached into my coat and retrieved her pokeball, returning her before she had a chance to protest. “I think we’re out of danger for now,” I said as I looked around.
The station was an absolute mess. Scorch marks covered a good portion of where the Houndoom had been battling. Claw marks all over the floors and some of the walls. There were also a few craters on all sorts of surfaces from where Scoly had bounced from.
“Well, let’s see how that psycho reacts to a second loss…” I mumbled as I opened my coat a bit. “Everyone back,” I said. There were some comments of protest, but everyone did, leaving me alone with the Liepard, and an Eevee sleeping in my hood. She’d fallen back asleep once the fighting was over.
Walking over to the Liepard, who was working on eating the second bean, they flinched when I got within a few feet. They didn’t stop eating, but they stared at me, giving me a glare that didn’t really have any actual malice behind it. Maybe that was just their natural expression?
I crouched down, looking them over. With the adrenaline out of my system I could analyse them better. They looked almost emaciated. Sunken stomach, ribs on full display despite being covered in fur. “Do you want more?” I asked softly.
They flinched at my words. There was a moment of silence, their eyes flicking from me to the mostly eaten bean several times before they answered. “I can have more?”
I nodded, patting the pouch at the front of my bag that held the pokebean bag. “I have a lot. They’re pokebeans, from Alola. I usually use them as treats, because they’re tasty. But they’re also pretty filling, right?”
Their eyes flicked to the bean again before gobbling up the last of it and standing up straight. “That doll thing said that if I gave up, I wouldn’t be hungry anymore. She said you wouldn’t let me be hungry.”
Again I nodded. “That’s right. My name is Jason, but I prefer to be called Jace. I’m a Pokemon Expert, and I do everything that I can to make sure that the Pokemon in my care are well fed and happy.”
The cat licked its chops for a moment, clearly savoring the taste of what it’d just eaten. “Master called me Liar.”
A frown tugged at the corner of my mouth, but I tried to not let my expression fall. “Do you like that name?”
Their head tilted to the side. “Why does that matter?”
I gave a little shrug. “If you don’t like it, then you won’t have to use it.”
They seemed to think about it for a moment, staring down at the ground. “I don’t know.”
“Well if you decide you don’t, we won’t use it. We can-” there was a sudden clatter as Adria kicked a rock from the steps leading back onto the platform.
Liar shot over to me, leaping up onto my shoulders again, back arched and hackles raised. Jumpy. But, a good sign that their first instinct was to seek protection from me. However, the sudden weight caused me to stagger a step back and I had to stand up to prevent myself from falling on my ass.
“This place is such a mess,” she said as she walked over to me. She eyed the Liepard, who still seemed agitated from the mere presence of an Officer Jenny, if the still raised hackles and claws digging into my jacket were any indication. “Can you come up so I can get your statement?”
“Yeah,” I said as I reached up, my first thought was to comfort the feline with pets, but I stopped. I had no idea how they would react to touch, so I decided against it.
The motion didn’t go unnoticed by Adria as she glanced from my hand to the Liepard. Although she didn’t comment. “It won’t take long. The train is still a bit away.” She turned and started to walk back.
I followed after her, feeling the way that the cat seemed to relax. Maybe it just didn’t like being looked at? There were a lot of different possibilities for trauma.
We stopped at the top of the stairs, a few other officers were hanging around. “They’re here to answer questions of the passengers when they come off the train, and to make sure the area is safe,” Adria explained to my unasked question.
“Ah, that makes sense,” I said with a bit of a nod, looking over the scattered officers.
“So, what happened? I got your garbled text and saw the word flare and panicked.” She glanced down the stairs and then at the Liepard. “With good reason, it seems.”
“Yeah. I’m not entirely sure how they knew where I was going, although I have a few theories.” I reached up and rubbed at my chin. “It could have also been random, the train station is a fairly obvious deduction. They could have also had someone specifically following me or watching the Pokecenter, but they had a lack of information.”
Adria was writing down things on a little pad she had, but paused. “Lack of information?”
“They didn’t know anything about my Pokemon,” I explained, my brain buzzing as I tried to figure things out. “That means they only had partial information. Heck, they knew I had a mythic Pokemon but not what it was. Which could mean someone either purposefully withheld that information, or they learned about my mythic in a passing sort of manner, through overhearing it or someone casually mentioning it.”
“Who knows you have a mythic?” she asked, her brow furrowing a bit as she wrote.
“Quite a lot of people, unfortunately. Anyone who was near the Pokecenter during the incident. Probably the entire Association. The check guards at the airport. Sycamore and that bartender.” I was mentally working backwards, listing off the most recent people who had seen Diancie, to the first few. Okay maybe I hadn’t been hiding her as well as I initially thought.
She sighed. “Okay, that’s a lot of people who could have unknowingly passed that information around…”
I nodded. “Right. Which is why I’m not terribly concerned about who gave them the information. Just the fact that they didn’t, or couldn’t, confirm any details even after the Pokecenter fight.” I sat a bit on a nearby railing, trying to take some of the uncomfortable weight that was on my shoulders off of my legs.
She nodded as well. “It is strange… Team Flare is usually a lot more methodical and cautious with things…”
“Which means they were panicking. Which makes me think this second attack wasn’t about my variant, or my mythic.” I smiled a bit and tapped the side of my head. “It’s the information. I don’t think those Admins knew what information I had given out, considering their reactions when I revealed it. Which means-”
“Lysandre sent them without explaining it all?” Adria questioned, a frown on her face.
I shrugged a bit, which clearly annoyed the Liepard considering their claws dug in a bit more. “Most likely. He’s untouchable currently, and it’s his word against mine, but it’s clear that he doesn’t like my word being out there at all.” I paused for a moment. “I think this was a test,” I said with a frown.
“Test?” Adria asked, her writing stopping as she looked up at me.
With a sigh, I nodded. “I think he’s seeing if I’ll retaliate again,” I mused, thinking about what the best way to strike him would be. “It’s too early for most of the plans that I know of… And I’ve already hit the most important base, aside from the labs.”
“We can’t do anything to the labs without evidence,” she said, frowning a bit.
I shrugged again, this time the Liepard didn’t really react. “I’ll have to think about how to get him back, then.”
That seemed to not be the answer she wanted to hear, considering the expression she was making. But we moved on and I started to explain the series of events. From the strange way the station seemed to empty out, to the conversation, and then the battle up to the point she showed up.
“You probably shouldn’t taunt them so much,” she said as she wrote a few more lines before closing the notepad.
“Humor is a good coping mechanism for a stressful situation,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “Remaining calm, rational, and doing my best to keep the mood light is how I keep myself and others from panicking.”
Her brow furrowed a bit but she just sighed. “Alright. I guess if it works.”
The sudden noise off in the distance drew all of our attention. The train was now approaching the station. “Right, well, looks like that’s my ride.”
“I could give you a lift,” she suggested.
I was already stepping away. “Nah, a police escort feels like a bad idea.”
She let out a soft scoff that was sort of a laugh. “You’re being targeted by a criminal organization, I would think you’d want the protection…”
With a shake of my head I started to head down the stairs. “Thanks, but don’t need it,” I called back with a wave.
Her reply was lost to me over the noise of the train coming to a stop, but I was fairly certain I heard the word reckless. “Do you want to go back into your pokeball?” I asked the large cat still perched on my shoulder.
They seemed to have calmed down, but I felt their claws dig into my coat when I addressed them. “Do I have to?”
“No,” I replied, keeping my tone as soft as I could while trying to be heard over the train. They relaxed. “Just going to be people, and I wasn't sure if you wanted to deal with that.”
As I finished speaking the door opened. There was this tense feeling in my back, half expecting the train to be full of Team Flare. However there were barely ten people that got off, a few of them looking around in confusion at the state of the platform.
Finding a seat near the back of a car, I relaxed, taking in a few deep breaths. Liar stepped onto the back of the chair, eying the other two people that were in sight with a bit of hostility.
“Do you want another bean?” I asked as I pulled another out, holding it up.
They didn’t respond, but I watched the way their eyes hard tracked the beans every movement, and a bit of drool escaped their mouth. I put the bean down on the seat beside me and they practically lunged at it. Noticeably they relaxed as they started eating, and they seemed completely unbothered when the train started moving again.
I spent the train ride working on my text files, occasionally looking over at Liar. They seemed content to sit and watch the dark scenery rush past. When the train stopped in Dendemille, they gave me an expectant look. When I told them that we would be the next stop, they laid down on the seat, curling up as tight as they could.
Again there was that urge to pet, so I decided to ask, “May I pet you?” I kept my voice low and soft, lifting my hand slightly to show them.
They cracked an eye open at me, eying my hand suspiciously. It took a moment before they let out a muffled, “Fine.”
Slowly I reached over, gently running my fingers over the exposed side. Their fur was greasy and rough. I didn’t want to think about it, but I would probably have to give them a bath. They were pretty tense at the first few strokes, but after a few minutes they seemed to relax. So they weren’t opposed to touch, but it wasn’t something they were used to.
“That’s… actually kinda nice,” they mumbled, probably not meaning to say that out loud. A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth and I started to use more of my hand to stroke over their fur. While it looked nice, that was clearly the only thing that mattered to their old Trainer. Her and her overuse of perfume. I was kind of surprised that this Liepard wasn’t drenched in it as well, but it felt like there was some sort of product in their fur.
Eventually the train reached our stop, and before I could get up, the massive cat was once again on my shoulders. That was honestly a bit of a strange habit they had, since I doubted that women had allowed such a thing. Something to ask them in the future.
There were some murmurs of how beautiful the feline was by those waiting for the train as we departed, which they seemed to enjoy. Since they weren’t bashful about it, they probably got praised on their appearance often.
I made my way straight to the Pokecenter, glancing around as I did. While I didn’t expect another attack tonight, it paid to be cautious.
This Pokecenter was rather interesting, having a very eastern look to it like most of Liverre. It was honestly a bit striking in comparison to the other cities, but it was pleasing to look at. Nurse Joy smiled at me as I entered, the center empty, though her expression slowly soured the closer I got.
Taking a deep breath, I decided to get right into the explanation before she even had a chance to greet me. “Did you hear about what happened the other night in Anistar?” As I spoke I pulled out my identification, placing it on the table where she could see it.
Her eyes narrowed at me before she looked down at the card, then her eyes snapped open wide. “Oh! You’re Jason.” She put a hand on her chest, taking a deep breath. “I was worried you were some reporter, or some other nonsense…”
“Reporter?” I asked slowly, looking around the room.
“You’d be surprised how often they bombard all Joy’s when something major like this happens… Regardless of distance. My sister in Galar was just complaining about a reporter pestering her about what happened as if she was there,” she grumbled, shaking her head. “Anyways… how can I help you, Jason?” She was all smiles again.
“I was attacked by Team Flare again,” I said as I began pulling the five black banded pokeballs, and the unbanded, placing them on the tray. Her smile faltered a bit at my words. “So their Pokemon have come under my ownership for the time being.”
A sigh escaped her, and she nodded. “At least they’re going with you…” she mumbled as she looked down at the pokeballs.
“Right. I just need them healed, fed, and checked up on.” I pointed up at the cat. “This Liepard is one of them, but they’ve thankfully been quite docile and cooperative.”
“Oh, that’s good,” her beaming smile was genuinely back now as she looked over the feline. “That’s some pretty severe malnourishment…”
“That’s why they were so easy to win over,” I explained.
Liar made a scoffing noise that sounded like a mix between a cough and a hiss, clearly offended by my remark.
Joy just continued to smile. “Alright, that won’t take long. Will you be spending the night?”
I smiled back at her. “Of course. I also need all my others checked over, too.”
Her smile faltered a bit when I just started to put pokeball after pokeball down on the tray. At least she would have Dee to help her out.
Chapter 19
Notes:
Just a bit of a warning to those sensitive to the topic. Working through the problems of the members of the wolf pack will touch a lot on different mental health issues, so please be aware.
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Full of dragon snail vibes
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.Wolf Pack:
Houndour x12 - Houndour
Houndoom x6 - Houndoom
Poochyena x4 - Poochyena
Mightyena x7 - Mightyena
Sneasel x2 - Sneasel
Liar - Liepard - Big hungry cat
Chapter Text
It was pretty late when Dee delivered the pokeballs, being followed by Liar. I had stayed up, wanting to wait and see. Surprisingly, all three Mightyena were marked green, while the Houndoom were only marked red. Liar’s pokeball had also been marked green, though I kind of thought that was unnecessary.
The moment the door was closed behind the little nurse, everyone jumped from the pokeballs and immediately climbed up onto the bed. I had been sitting, watching television when I was suddenly covered in Pokemon, laughing. “Okay, okay. We’re going to bed.”
I had been watching a news report covering the Pokecenter attack. They hadn’t released my name, but had referred to me as a Pokemon Expert. Which was a pretty dead giveaway to anyone that wanted to find out considering one of the other Experts was currently in the hospital, and the other was missing. But there weren’t any images of myself or the Pokemon, so there was that. Although that was probably because no one had thought to record the attack, despite everyone having cameras. This was probably the first time I was thankful for that. Otherwise I’d have been plastered all over the news with video from some random person's phone.
Settling against Dee, I turned off the television. Looking over, I could see Liar sitting on the chair, staring at us. Clearly confused at the sight in front of them. “Do you always sleep so close together?” they asked after a moment.
“Yes,” I said with a bit of a nod.
“I usually sleep in my pokeball,” they said slowly.
“Well, if you’d like you can do that,” I said as I pointed out where Dee had put their pokeball. “Or anywhere that’s in this room.”
They didn’t respond, just nodding as they settled onto the chair.
~
When I woke up in the morning, I looked around slowly. There was a bit of grogginess that I had to get rid of, but other than that I felt pretty good. I was still under a pile of pokemon, though Rio, Scoly, and Primarina were back to watching Mystery Dungeon. They were really addicted to that show, but I couldn’t really blame them. I had been the same way with Pokemon growing up.
Looking over there was a sight that made me smile. My coat had been pulled down into the chair, mussed up into what could only be described as a nest, and in the middle of it was a large snoozing cat. Liar was an interesting thing, and I wondered if I should keep them. I know I shouldn’t, but there was that want to keep them safe and care for them. Finding someone who was going to not just take care of them, but pamper the poor cat was going to be difficult…
That was going to be the case with all of the wolf pack. I would have to go through every single one, see how they felt, find out what they wanted. But at least Liar had been easy. Pokebeans had been an extremely good starter, so I would lead with that and go from there. But first…
I struggled for a moment to get myself out from under all the Pokemon. Surprisingly Cara was still asleep when I started to move, although she woke up immediately the moment I tried to get up. She seemed even groggier than me, but helped unbury me.
Now the question became if I should leave anyone behind. There were a lot of good reasons why I shouldn’t and I don’t even know why I thought that I might want to do that. There were people after Essy and Diancie, and they’d attacked us twice now without fear of consequences. Maybe they’d be a bit more wary after two failed attempts but it was better not to chance it.
“Alright everyone,” I looked around the room as all eyes fell on me, even Liar opened its eyes to look at me. “We’re going to the Laverre Gym to see Valerie and work some things out, as well as probably have a gym battle.”
Immediately there was a lot of excited chatter. “I wanna fight first!” Sliggoo proclaimed. “I wanna do an actual fight.”
I chuckled a bit. “While I love your enthusiasm, she’s a fairy type Trainer, and you’re a dragon type.” She seemed to deflate at my words. “You’ll get first up against the next one, alright?”
She perked up a bit and nodded, which was more just wiggling her head. “Okay!”
“Who will be fighting?” Cara asked, looking around at the group.
“Rio, Scoly, and Dee,” I said with a bit of a smile. Dee flinched at her name, staring at me wide eyed. “Dee needs a lot more battle experience.” And although I wouldn’t say it out loud, she needed to overcome her instinct to freeze up. “You beat one of the Kahuna’s Pokemon, have a bit more faith in yourself.”
She just nodded a bit in response, clearly her confidence still needed a lot of boosting.
I cleaned myself up a bit, before coming over to Liar. “Would you be alright going into your pokeball for a while?” I asked softly.
They glared at me for a moment, probably contemplating if they could trust me or not.
“I won’t lock it,” I added. “You can come back out at any time if you feel you need to.” I reached over and pulled their pokeball from the table, holding it in front of them. “I don’t like keeping the rest of them in their pokeballs, but I can’t just give them free reign when I don’t know how they’ll act.”
They just looked at me for a moment before they huffed. “Fine. But I want another pokebean.”
I smiled a bit and nodded, standing up to get at my bag. I gave them a pokebean before giving everyone else a pokeblock. The cat watched as I did so, probably curious as to what they were getting, but they didn’t ask.
After they finished their bean, Liar reluctantly returned to the pokeball. That was when I actually got a good look at my coat. I didn’t know whether to laugh or be annoyed, as it seemed the cat had gone to town on it. It was just one of the flaps, but it was practically shredded.
With a bit of a laugh, I pulled it on, putting Liar’s pokeball in my coat. “Okay everyone, we’re heading off.” I held my coat open. There was some grumbling, not about having to leave, but leaving before the episode was over.
Once everyone was back, and Eevee stuffed in my hood, I slung my bag over my shoulder and made my way out. It was sometime around nine or ten. Thankfully I knew where the Gym was, not like it would have been hard to find considering it was a massive tree. Seeing it once again, I thought about the man who had been talking with Jenny. That had been the father of the child. I couldn’t remember what he looked like. I’d never met the child. Never got to speak with the Zweilous. They had all just… disappeared.
That was a terrifying thought. Whoever could do that was not only heartless, but ruthless. Someone who believed efficiency was more important than lives. Had it been Lysander? Or Director Yellow? I needed to find some sort of source for artificial Mega Stones. If I could find that out, I’d have some sort of lead to find who was behind that.
I pushed those thoughts aside as the automatic doors slid out of my way. There were quite a lot of people and Pokemon milling about. It was comfortingly lively. Scanning the room I noticed a reception desk, the pink haired woman talking with a black haired Trainer. On the desk was a Raltz that the two seemed to be discussing.
Quite a few people performed a double take when they saw me walking across the room. There were a few whispers as well, but I didn’t really pay any attention to them. The conversation between the receptionist and the other girl faltered as I got closer. Honestly it was like they were trying to make me feel as unwanted as possible.
“Goodmorning,” I said with a smile as I pulled out my identification. “If Valerie is available, I’d like to have a chat with her.”
“She’s not,” the woman responded, not even glancing at the card. “She’s booked on battles for the next week.”
I blinked, taking note of the hostility in her tone. “Ah, this isn’t about a battle. I have-”
“Then what are you doing here?” the black haired girl said with a huff, folding her arms. The Raltz mimicked the motion, and the huff.
A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth, but before I could respond the pink woman continued. “This is a gym. If you’re not here for a battle or to schedule one, I’d like to ask you to leave.”
I frowned a bit. “I don’t understand where this hostility is coming from, but you see-”
“Oh please, you’re just like all the others. Just because Valerie is the newest gym leader, everyone thinks they can bully her for favors.”
Now I was actually frowning. “Bullying? Who’s bullying her?”
All three of them, as well as several other Trainers nearby made a “Tsk” noise, which startled me a bit.
“Valerie is our beautiful goddess, and we will protect her,” someone said from behind me, and when I looked over my shoulder I saw that everyone in the room was now looking at me.
Now I was actually a bit nervous. When I turned back to the receptionist, she was glaring at me. “Look, I’m just here for a chat. If that’s not possible, I’ll just sign up for a battle and talk to her then.”
“Yeah, right. Like she’d ever talk to-” she finally looked down at the ID that I was still presenting, “A Pokemon Expert.”
There was silence for a few seconds, her eyes suddenly darting back and forth between my identification card and my face.
“Pokemon Expert?” was whispered behind me, and I heard several conversations explaining what that meant. I was kind of glad that not everyone knew what that was.
A door to the side flew open with a bang. “Did someone say Pokemon Expert?!” A shout came from it and Valerie took a step out, arms outstretched. Although it was hard to tell if she could really do anything but outstretch her arms considering her costume. It was also hard to tell where she was looking considering her eyes were almost a solid gray. But I knew immediately when she spotted me. “Jason!” she shouted.
“Yes?” I managed to say before she slammed into me, doing her best to give me a hug. I was more than a little caught off guard by the interaction, unsure what to do. “Glad you’re okay,” I said as I gave her a few pats on the top of her head.
“Where the hell did you disappear to?” she snapped, taking a step back. “After that whole incident you just… Left. What the hell. Who does that? I nearly died!”
“I mean… you were fine when I left?” I said slowly, feeling the mixture of looks on me. This was going to cause some very strange and annoying rumors.
“Well what are you doing here now?” She was holding me out at arms length, looking me over. She was a head shorter than me, and would probably be even smaller if not for the massively tall boots she was wearing.
“A few things, actually. Do you have time to talk?” I asked, looking over at the receptionist.
She looked over at her, too. “Uh,” the pink haired girl struggled for a moment to look through the book she had in front of her. “You’ve got about ten minutes till your next match, but then you have two hours after that until the fashion show.”
Valerie leaned a bit to look at the chart, her eyes scanning her schedule before she turned towards me. “Do you mind waiting?”
I shook my head. “Nah that’s fine. Who are you battling?”
The black haired girl flinched at the question and my eyes snapped to her, the Ralts having a similar reaction. “Me,” she said as she regained some of her confidence as I studied the Ralts. They didn’t look uncomfortable under my gaze, clearly able to sense my intent.
“Pretty strong bond,” I commented with a bit of a nod. “You’re taking good care of them. Though they are leaning pretty hard into their fairy energy. If you can’t get good pokeblocks, try and get some payapa or mago berries for them to boost their psychic energy.”
Everyone just stared at me, including Valerie. “Berries can do that?” the young girl asked.
My brow furrowed a bit as I reached into my bag, pulling out one of the books. “You should have learned this in school.” Her face began to turn quite a shade of red as I flipped open to the section about how to train your Pokemon. “While these books are lacking in so many ways, they’re good for the bare basics. See,” I showed her the page and read aloud, “Berries are a great supplement to a Pokemon’s energy reserves.” I then paused, looking back at the book. “Wait, that’s it? I thought it said more,” I muttered as I started to flip pages.
There was some murmuring nearby, people asking each other if they knew about that. I did hear some affirmations, but the majority seemed to have no idea.
Eventually I gave up on the book. “Well, you’re teacher should have gone over it,” I said as I snapped the book closed and put it back into my bag.
“What berries are good for fairy energy?” another girl asked, and I turned to see a mop of long green curly hair.
“Pecha and roseli are best to increase fairy energy.” I turned a bit to face the gathering crowd, and for the first time in a while I switched into lecture mode. “But of course the returns of just berries will be low. That’s why people use pokeblocks, as they have supplements added to them to make the energy more potent and beneficial. To get the maximum use out of berries, you need to make sure the Pokemon gets a lot of nutritional food as well. And I don’t mean that cheap crap. You should ask Nurse Joy what your Pokemon needs in their diet, and buy the appropriate pokechow. Some of the cheaper chows are mostly filler and are harmful to your Pokemons growth and development. Questions?”
Several people suddenly raised their hands and I smiled a bit. I pointed towards a girl with blonde curls. “How do we check which pokechow has what we need?” she asked.
“Ah, good question.” I reached into my bag, pulling out one of the sacks of pokechow that I had. “Right here, you can see the nutritional information, just like on all sorts of foods.”
There were a lot of puzzled expressions. “Nutritional information?” someone asked.
For a moment I had no words. “Arceus, what are they teaching these kids in school,” I muttered. “Yes, nutritional information. Food items will have a label on them, telling you how much a serving size is, how many servings it contains, and how much of each thing is in a serving.”
The next hour devolved into me explaining nutritional information and how to read it. Some of the kids knew what I was talking about, but there was a worrying amount that didn’t. Valerie and the black haired girl had disappeared at some point for their battle, returning after ten or twenty minutes. Once all of their questions seemed to be answered, the crowd started to disperse back around the room, some of them excitedly talking about what they learned and how strong it was going to make them, while others complained that that was way too much information.
“Sorry about that,” I said as I turned to Valerie, reaching back and fiddling with my ponytail a bit. “Been a while since I’ve gone all teacher mode.”
She had a rather amused smile on her face. “Well, it looked like you had fun.” She paused. “You were a teacher?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Long story, but now I’m a Pokemon Expert.” She looked me over, clearly calculating if she believed me. “How’d your battle go?” I asked to get the subject off of me.
“Oh not bad,” she said with a shrug. “She won. It was a low difficulty battle. She’s a local.” Her eyes were focused on the door, even though the black haired youth had left a while ago. “Poor girl was really sick till last month and had to postpone her journey, but I think she’ll do well enough.”
My gaze also went to the door as I nodded slowly. “That Ralts has a lot of potential.”
“Right, you wanted to talk to me about something?” she said, suddenly changing the subject. “Come, I have tea prepared.”
A bit of a chuckle escaped me as I followed after her. I was still getting a lot of curious or suspicious looks from the crowd. We didn’t travel far, going through three doors before coming into quite an impressive looking tea room. I felt a slight tightness in my back as I straightened up. “I’m going to have to apologize for any sort of etiquette I fumble.”
She laughed, waving one of her wing flap things. “No, no. Don’t worry. Only my parents care about that crap,” she said as she sat down at the table, and I spotted the Sylveon poke their head out from under it.
They bristled, staring at me for a moment before recognition seemed to dawn on them and they relaxed. “Oh it’s just you…” they mumbled as they crawled out.
“Nice seeing you again, too,” I said with a slight nod and sat down across from Valerie.
I just got a grunt in response.
“Oh don’t mind him. He’s grumpy because he hasn’t had a good fight in a while,” Valerie said, giving a rather poignant look at the pink and white Pokemon, who seemed a bit annoyed at the words, but didn’t have a rebuttal.
Instead I watched as they used their ribbons to serve tea. “I know the type,” I said with a chuckle.
I looked at the cup for a moment before taking a sip. It was rather good. I was suddenly quite taken aback when suddenly an arm extended out the front of Valerie’s kimono costume and reached for the cup.
“Are your arms even in there?” I asked, gesturing at the massive wing like sleeves that were constantly extended out to the side.
She giggled. “They can be. But holding my arms like that all day is exhausting.”
I laughed, nodding. “Yeah, I can imagine.”
There was a moment of silence, the two of us simply sipping tea. I was trying to figure out what kind of tea this was. That wasn’t something I was ever good at, but it was tasty.
Suddenly she took a deep breath, putting her cup down and stood up, drawing my attention. “I never get the chance to say it.” She bowed deeply. “Thank you for saving me.”
I smiled. “Anytime. But, yanno… Try not to?”
She let out a breathy sort of laugh as she sat back down. “I’m trying. First real incident after becoming gym leader and I messed it up really bad. I really let the new title go to my head, and I got my ass beat for it. And I- Don’t just nod your head!” she practically shouted.
I laughed, as I had just been nodding and agreeing with her as I sipped my tea. “Well it just really seems you know what you did wrong and learned from it.”
“Yeah, but… I almost died!” she exclaimed.
I shrugged. “I’ve almost died a bunch of times. I almost died in that encounter as well, and if you hadn’t battered the Hydreigon, or if those Quagsire hadn’t helped out, I probably would have.”
“But you just… You didn’t hesitate. You just rushed in…” she seemed to be floundering with her words, confused at the way I was just sort of brushing it off.
“Valerie. I won’t undersell what I did. But you did a good job.” I took a deep breath, giving her a smile.
It took a moment before she smiled back and nodded. “Right. That was just… That was a lot.”
“It was,” I said with a nod.
She took a few deep breaths, and then nodded. “But still, it’s thanks to you that I survived it. So, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Again we fell into silence. The room was actually very comfortable, and even when it was quiet it was nice.
“So, you’re here for a badge, right?” Valerie said suddenly.
“That’s one reason I’m here, yes,” I agreed.
She gave me a puzzled look. “One?”
“What do you know about Team Flare?” I asked instead of answering.
Her brow furrowed. “That’s the villain team active here in Kalos. I’ve had a few run-ins with them so far.”
“Are they the ones bullying you?” That had been concerning to hear from the receptionist.
Rather than answering immediately, her face went very red. “No. No. That’s… That’s different. It’s not bullying. I’m not being bullied.”
I arched an eyebrow at her, wondering why she’d gotten so nervous. “You’re not being bullied?”
“No,” she said confidently, straightening up in her seat. “If I was, I can handle myself.” She fidgeted a bit. “Some people are just uh… a little forward.”
“Ah,” I said, nodding. “Okay, that makes sense.”
“Yeah. And I’m uh… not really good at dealing with that…” She was turning her teacup around in her hands, obviously embarrassed at the subject.
“Understandable. It’s… not an easy thing.” I set down my empty teacup. “Also very much outside my wheelhouse,” I said with a chuckle.
She blinked, and quite blatantly looked me up and down. “Really?”
I snorted. “Yes, really. I’ve only ever had one relationship, and it exploded on me so badly that I’ve never wanted to get into another.”
Her mouth opened, and I could tell that she was about to say ‘it couldn’t have been that bad’ but thought better of it, closing her mouth. “So I guess I can’t ask you about relationship advice?” she asked with a bit of a laugh.
I scoffed. “You can ask, but my advice ain’t gonna be good.” We both laughed.
It took a moment before we both settled down. “Well, even if it’s bad advice, it can’t be worse than any I’ve gotten already.”
Sylveon was refilling my cup after I tried to reach for the teapot, only to get a ribbon slap across the back of my hand. While Valerie didn’t seem to care about proper tea etiquette, the ribbon beast sure did. “Oh it sure could,” I said with a smile as I rubbed the back of my hand.
She had a distant look on her face, a bit of a smile on her face. “I just… What do you do when people pester you, asking for a chance, but the one you want to be with hardly even looks at you?”
I was about to go for my teacup but instead sighed. “You make yourself impossible to ignore.”
Her brow furrowed and she stared at me.
“What? I said it was going to be bad advice,” I said before laughing at the face she made. Clearly she hadn’t liked my answer.
“I don’t know what I expected.” She sighed as she suddenly flopped backwards, her Sylveon catching her before she hit the floor, using his ribbons to sit her back up. “You’re a Pokemon Expert, not a Relationship Expert.”
Again I laughed, nodding. “I’m probably the worst person to ask. Actually, my ex would be worse, but who cares what they think. That’s the other thing.” I snapped my fingers, pointing at her. “Those people that come at you, if they won’t take no for an answer, beat them up.”
She was doing her best to frown, her face scrunching a bit before she burst into giggles. “Yeah. Okay. That’s really bad advice. You’re doing that on purpose.”
“Yup.” I picked up my cup, smiling at her. “Don’t want people thinking I’ve actually got good advice about something as disgusting as romance.”
She scoffed. “That sucks. You suck.”
I laughed, and she soon joined in, the two of us just laughing for a few moments before settling down.
“Well, at least I feel better about it,” she said before taking a deep breath. “But, what was the thing about Team Flare?”
“Ah, right. Back on topic.” I leaned forward a bit, setting my teacup down. “I was wondering if I could borrow a sort of training space you have.” She gave me a puzzled look, but let me continue. “I have thirty two Pokemon that have been taken from Team Flare and I need a place where I can safely assess them.”
Her expression was rather blank, her teacup hovering in front of her as she processed what I had just said. “How many?”
“Thirty two,” I repeated.
“You… You have thirty two Pokemon on you… right now…” she said slowly.
“Technically I have forty four Pokemon on me, but thirty two of them are undergoing rehabilitation under my guidance,” I said, amused at her reaction. Clearly she was struggling to wrap her head around the sheer amount of Pokemon that I was claiming to have.
“Rehabilitation,” she muttered before suddenly she seemed to refocus. “Rehabilitation?”
I nodded slowly. “Team Flare, and honestly most, if not all, villain teams abuse their Pokemon quite severely. It’s why many people become villains. To abuse their Pokemon. To them it’s a shortcut to power.” Of course, there were some that didn’t, but the amount that did was rather staggering.
It took a minute for her to mull it over before she slowly nodded. “Okay… You can use one of my training areas. We have a couple in the gym. Do you have any requirements?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “It just needs to be able to withstand a possible battle or escape attempt.”
She nodded a few times, having a far away look in her eyes. That seemed to be her thinking face. “And once you’re done, you’ll want to battle?”
I snorted softly and then nodded. “Yeah. Although it might take days for me to finish.”
Again she nodded a few times. “That’s fine. We have guest rooms that you can stay in.”
I blinked at her. “Guest rooms?”
“Yes,” she said with a smile. “What, did you think your advice was so bad that I can’t be a good host to my savior?” That got us both laughing again, much to the annoyance of the Sylveon.
“Oh great, you’re going to be here longer,” he grumbled.
“Well at least I can say it wasn’t my idea,” I said with a smirk at the angry bundle of ribbons.
He flinched slightly at my words, eying me up and down. “You’ve got good interpretation skills, I’ll give you that.”
“Oh it’s more than that,” I said as I sipped my tea. “I can understand every word you speak.”
There was silence for a moment, and for that moment I honestly enjoyed the reaction. It had been a while since I’d revealed that to someone. “What?!” both Valerie and her Sylveon shouted.
I laughed. “Yeah, it’s one of the big reasons I’m a Pokemon Expert.”
“Wow… I’ve never met anyone else that was able to do it,” Valerie murmured.
That caught all of my attention and I looked at her. “You can talk with them, too?”
“I… Not all of them,” she admitted, looking down at her cup. “It’s something to do with types, I think? Anything with fairy, psychic, or water typing I can talk to just fine. But there are exceptions, which is why I don’t exactly know.”
I rubbed my chin, theorizing. “That is extremely interesting… I haven’t met anyone else that could talk to Pokemon like I can.”
She nodded. “Usually it’s just a case of good interpretation, which I’m not bad at when it comes to other types, but those three I’m best at. Olympia says it’s because I have high amounts of fairy energy.”
My brow furrowed a bit. “Interesting… very interesting… I have dark energy, myself.”
Her eyes seemed to go a bit wide. “Really?!” she exclaimed, leaning over the table and nearly toppling forward, and probably would have if Sylveon hadn’t grabbed hold of her to keep her up. “That is really rare!”
I chuckled a bit. “So I’ve been told. But, so is fairy energy, right?”
She seemed to hesitate a moment, seeming to realize her own uniqueness. “Oh. Right. Yeah I guess it is,” she said as she sat back down, giggling to herself.
Sylveon huffed, clearly annoyed by her antics. But there was also a sort of careful gaze from the Pokemon, watching every move she made with care. I also noticed her teacup was never empty, whereas mine was empty again. Protective and attentive. “Did you become a fairy type Trainer because of your Sylveon?” I asked.
Her entire body jolted slightly at the question, and the ribbon beast's attention snapped towards me. “What?”
I put up my hands. “Sorry, I was just curious.”
She gave me a rather puzzled expression, glancing at her Sylveon, who also looked puzzled. “I… I dunno, I guess? Ren was my first Pokemon. Back when I was still living in Johto.”
That was honestly something I was a bit curious about. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did a girl from Johto become a Kalos gym leader?”
That got a bit of a laugh from her. “My grandfather's brother was the previous gym leader. He never had any children, so when he got old… Well, he didn’t want it to fall out of the family… And since I was the best in the family… Yanno I actually got to fight Lance.”
“Oh? How’d that go?” I asked, going for my teacup but remembering it was empty. It was at that point that Ren actually realized my cup was empty and refilled it.
“I got stomped,” she said with a scoff. “I barely got past the Elite Four. And Champions… Champions are just… On a completely different level. It’s no wonder they change so rarely and have to actually retire.”
“I see.” That was actually very interesting. In the games you could just power level to the point you could take the Elite Four and Champion with one Pokemon if you wanted, but in real life there were no levels. A Champion got to the top, and then just sat there because it was the top. There wasn’t anything higher. No one had even gotten the chance to challenge Diantha at the last League. Just how strong were her Pokemon? How high was that peak? Was Diantha even at the peak?
“Anyways, thanks to that I got shipped over here and shoved in this box,” she said with a huff.
“You didn’t want to come?” I asked, noting the obviously displeased tone and wording.
“No.” She looked down at her cup, a frown on her face. “I-” she hesitated, “I wanted to try again. They didn’t even let me take my full team… Now the only thing I can do is run the gym, try and find a replacement, maybe aim for one of the Elite Four spots…”
“One of their spots? How does that work?” New information was always nice.
“It’s hard. You have to challenge for the position, which is a painful amount of paperwork. Top that off with you needing at least five years as a Gym Leader and your pool really narrows. Then you have to be approved by the League to challenge them. Only after all that do you actually get to fight them, and if you lose, you can’t challenge the same person until you’ve successfully challenged and failed against the other three.”
“That is a lot,” I muttered, going over all that she explained in my head.
“And you have to have a full six team of Elite Pokemon.” She shifted a bit, and I realized she had folded her arms inside of her costume. “I only have three. And they couldn’t even beat a souped up Hydreigon.”
I nodded slowly. “But I barely beat them with over a dozen Pokemon fighting it, so that’s understandable.”
“Not according to Wulfric,” she practically growled, and I saw the way that Ren’s fur bristled at just the mention of them. “He has at least eight Pokemon at the Elite level.”
“And they’re all jerks,” Ren added.
Valerie nodded in agreement. “Yeah, they’re all jerks. Just like him.”
“Never met him,” I said with a bit of a shake of my head. Although I remember him a bit from the anime… He sounded like he might be a lot, but I never really thought of him as a bad guy. Passionate, and caring for his Pokemon. Was that not the case? That was a concerning thought. Maybe it was just a conflict of personalities, like the one I have with Professor Sycamore.
“Well, when you fight him, knock him down a peg for me, okay?” she asked with a big smile on her face.
I laughed. “Alright, I can try.”
She laughed along with me for a moment before she let out a long sigh. “I have to get ready for my show.” She placed the teacup down, a bit of a frown on her face.
“I thought you liked those?” I asked, also putting my teacup down.
“Oh don’t get me wrong, I love doing them,” she said as she stood up, and I got up along with her. “But what you’re doing sounds so much more interesting.”
A snort escaped me as I shook my head. “Interesting, maybe. But it’s going to be a lot of work.” I sighed softly, looking at the bag at my side. “Thirty two abused Pokemon that I am going to have to take the time to, at the very least, assure that they are safe now.”
Her eyes wandered to my bag, a bit of a frown on her face. “Right. Interesting, but not fun. Let me show you to the training room.”
We walked a short way, but it was long enough of a walk that I had to question just how large this building was. We passed by numerous other doors, and down a couple different hallways before stopping at a door that honestly looked like a lot of the ones we had already passed, with the exception being it was heavily reinforced.
She started to struggle with the door, and I immediately realized that it was because her costume was in the way and the door was heavy. When I moved to assist I realized just how heavy it was, and saw why when I saw the doors profile. That was six inches of steel.
The room itself was massive and decorated like a rather bare garden. There was a water feature on the opposite corner to the right that even had its own waterfall that cascaded from the wall. “I’ll be back after my show,” Valerie said with a smile as she gestured to the room. “Don’t worry about breaking anything.”
I nodded a bit as I stepped in and actually jumped when the massive door slammed behind me. I looked back at it a moment before turning my attention forward again, sweeping the room with my eyes. To my left was a sort of sitting area with a few tables and chairs, and a television. Convenient.
“Alright,” I opened my coat and that seemed to be the only thing that everyone needed to burst out.
“Whoa! Are we still inside?” Rio asked as she dashed forward, quickly followed by Scoly with Primarina on her back and Keo hot on their heels. They were swiftly followed by Diancie, who was giggling and twirling as she went.
Dee and Cara came up beside me as everyone scattered to explore the large room. Everyone but Essy, who Cara scooped up. “What’s the plan?” the canine asked softly.
I frowned a bit before making my way over to the table. “I do my best,” I said softly as I put my bag on the table, and then pulled Eevee from my hood. “Everyone will stay in this corner of the room. No fighting. No training. I’ll be depending on Cara for support if things become violent, but everyone will keep their distance.” As I spoke, I put my coat down on the table, retrieving Liar’s pokeball before wrapping Eevee in the coat.
Cara frowned. “I don’t like that…”
“Just keep close enough that you can help using Extreme Speed.” I turned on the television.
Rio and company were immediately there. “So what are we doing?”
“All of you are gonna watch tv,” I said with a bit of a smirk as she was already staring at the screen. I’d turned it to Mystery Dungeon.
“Can we train?” she asked, looking at me.
“No.”
She frowned, but nodded. “Right… Don’t want to spook them.”
I smiled a bit and nodded. “Exactly.” I tossed Liar’s pokeball and they burst into form and I snatched the pokeball. I wondered how the heck they got the return feature to work when you tossed the ball. It was like it lazily tossed itself back and was pretty easy to catch.
Liar looked around, puzzled. I could tell they wanted to ask questions, but instead they hopped up onto the table and frowned when they saw Eevee hogging the coat. With a huff, they laid down on the table.
They were quite upset when I then tossed a large pillow beside them, glaring at me. “Get comfortable. We’re going to be here for a long time.” I put two beans down next to them which seemed to immediately calm their anger. Then I gave one to Essy, since she was just staring at the colorful treats.
Cara put her down on the table beside Eevee and both felines started to munch on their beans. “I still don’t like it.”
I pat Essy’s head softly as I picked up my bag. “What’s the range my aura spreads out, Cara?”
She jolted slightly, looking at me. “Uhm… about ten meters?”
I nodded a bit and then moved over, hoisting one of the tables up with a bit of difficulty. “Okay, that’s what I thought.” She was puzzled, but didn’t question it as I made my way across the room with the table. “Everyone, settle down over there and listen to Dee.”
There was some grumbling, mostly by Diancie. I could hear Cara explaining to them what was going on as I walked. I stopped when I was about three quarters across the room, putting the table down. I stretched a bit, taking a few deep breaths. This was going to be difficult.
Pulling out a bunch of blankets, I made a sort of makeshift shelter out of the table. I left plenty of gaps, so that anyone inside could look out and see around the room, but it made it harder to see inside and made the area feel like a fort. A place to hide and feel safe.
Back when I was a counselor, I had a similar place in my office. Sure it was usually for the younger kids to hide away while I tried to help. But… The amount of times I had found older children hiding away in there was disheartening.
I had spent so long building a good reputation. That first year spent just convincing kids that it was okay to talk to me about anything… That I wouldn’t judge them. Wouldn’t get mad at them. Wouldn’t hurt them. That I could help them.
And then that damn school board ruined everything.
Before I stepped away I set three pokebeans down inside the shelter. I stood about seven meters back, hoping that my aura would actually have a calming effect like Cara said. Even if it didn’t, I had multiple ideas of how to handle this.
Cara stood a distance away, farther than I thought she’d be comfortable, but she was fast. I was relying completely on her if things went wrong.
But now I had to make an extremely difficult decision.
How was I going to start this?
I had thirty one Pokemon to go through. Should I go by species? Type? Stickers? Start easy, and work my way up? Start with the difficult ones?
I sat down as I thought about it, pulling out the papers and going through the list. The two original green stickers had been a Houndour and a Mightyena. But the Mightyena also had a purple sticker… Then there were the ones at the high end marked with pink. Two Houndoom, and two Mightyena. Everyone else was marked with red.
There were only two that didn’t have a yellow sticker from that first batch. The green Houndour, and one of the pink Houndoom. That was going to be the hardest to deal with. Extremely hostile and not afraid.
Although maybe it would be one of the purples that would be the most difficult. One of the Sneasel, two Poochyena, one of the red Houndoom, and a red Mightyena. So two of the Mightyena in total.
“Let’s start with the majority,” I mumbled to myself as I grabbed the pokeball for the green Houndour. I had twelve of these little dogs to get through, afterall. “So let’s start it out slow.” I looked at the black banded pokeball, fishing for a moment in my pocket for the little key. “Houndour. Male. Less than one year old. Freshly caught…” I mumbled, looking at the papers in my lap.
I tossed the ball at the shelter's entrance, and it flashed red. There was an extremely confused looking canine that popped up. It looked around for a moment, looking for a fight, but seemed to relax when it realized there wasn’t going to be one. Its eyes locked onto me for a moment before it trotted over. “Hi! You’re new!” he said, his little tail wagging.
I took a deep breath, glad that I was starting out with a real easy one. “Hi there. My name’s Jason, but I prefer Jace. I’m your new owner.”
He sat down in front of me, his back leg going up to scratch behind his ear. “My name’s Guff. Where’s my old master?”
“They got arrested.” As I looked Guff over, it was clear they were on the younger side like the papers had said.
His head tilted to the side. “Arrested? What’s that mean?”
“It means they were bad, and are being punished.” Immediately his ears went back. That was a concept he knew of. “Are you hungry? I have a tasty treat,” I said as I pulled a pokebean out.
Immediately he perked back up, his tail thumping against the ground. “Oh! I know what treats are!” I put the bean down in front of him and he happily began to eat. “Tasty!”
I pulled out a marker out of my bag, writing Guff on the top of the ball, as well as the number that was associated with his page before removing the sticker. “Did you like your old master?”
His face scrunched. “He was kinda mean, but he fed me a lot. But his treats weren’t this tasty. But he made me train really hard. But I got treats for training. Why’d I get this treat?”
A smile was pulling at the corners of my mouth. “It’s my welcome gift. If you’re a good boy, you’ll get more treats.”
That tail was going wild. “I’m a good boy! Old master said I was a good boy!” I guess the grunt who owned Guff wasn’t as bad as some of these others. Suddenly they looked around. “Is Rough also here?”
“Rough?” I asked, glancing at the bag.
He nodded. “Rough is my older brother. He evolved into a Houndoom last month! He’s super strong, but everyone says he’s mean. But he’s not.”
I hesitated a moment before pulling out the four Houndoom pokeballs from the original conflict. “Do you know which pokeball is his?”
He took a moment, sniffing at the pokeballs. “That one,” he said, placing his paw on one of the balls. Pink and yellow sticker.
“Okay.” This was either going to make things easier, or complicate things. I put the other Houndoom back into my bag before removing the band around Rough’s ball. I tossed it towards the shelter. When it burst into light, the Houndoom immediately dropped into a battle stance.
Their eyes locked onto mine, but their aggressive demeanor immediately shifted into a defensive one when Guff ran up to them. “Rough! Rough! Our new owner has tasty treats!”
The larger dog immediately put a paw onto the Houndour and shoved him behind them. “What’s going on?” He barked out and I saw out of the corner of my eye the way that Cara tensed. This Pokemon had an air about him that permeated throughout the area and actually made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Was this the Unnerve ability?
“My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace. I’m your new owner,” I said slowly.
“Where’s our owner?” he snapped, practically snarling.
“They’ve been arrested,” I said simply.
“Rough! Rough!” The little dog was trying to get the larger dog's attention. “He’s our new owner!”
Rough’s eyes narrowed at me, clearly sizing me up. “Am I going to be put down?” I tensed at those words. “That’s what he always said would happen if we got caught.”
“Put down? What’s that?” Guff asked, but Rough was ignoring him.
“No.” That seemed to be the right answer as I saw the way Rough relaxed.
“So he lied,” he growled, clearly pissed off, but at least it wasn’t aimed at me.
I opened my mouth, and then closed it. The motion didn’t go unnoticed as his ears seemed to swivel to me. “He didn’t lie. I…” I paused, trying to think of a way to say what happened without making it sound like I was trying to win them over. “It was decided that you would instead be placed under my custody, and I would be allowed to try and rehabilitate you.”
He tensed, lowering himself a bit and flattening his ears back. I could see Cara about to rush over to intercept any sort of charge. “And if you can’t? What then?”
I sighed, shaking my head. “Then nothing.” That seemed to take the wind out of his sails a bit as now he just looked confused. “There’s nothing else. You’ll just stay with me. I’ll feed you, take care of you, and try to help you, whether you like it or not. Whether that help is staying with me, finding a Trainer that you like, or releasing you.”
“You’d release me?” he said, standing up straight. The movement almost caused Cara to leap at him.
“If that’s what you want. I can find a nice place for you, but you’d be on your own and might get captured again,” I explained.
Rough suddenly had a rather thoughtful expression and actually sat down, Guff running around him and purposefully bumping into him. The little dog was peppering him with questions, but Rough was ignoring him, clearly used to the antics of the energetic little dog. “I wasn’t caught wild,” he suddenly admitted. “My mother was a breeder, the same breeder as Guff…”
There was a moment of silence. “Are you hungry?” I asked as I pulled out a pokebean.
They eyed it warrily. I could practically see the gears turning in their head. Slowly they stood up. “How can I trust you?” They were starting to approach, stalking forward, the movement was clearly bothering Cara. Honestly I was just impressed that they didn’t trip over Guff.
“All I have are my words,” I said with a bit of a smile. “But…” I looked away, which was the first time I’d taken my eyes off of the large dog, looking over at the group enjoying the television. “All I’m asking is for a chance to show you that I can help. That I want to help.”
When I turned back, the massive dog was standing in front of me, looking down at me. Damn I forgot that Houndoom’s are over four feet tall. Guff had already snatched the bean from my hand and was greedily devouring it. Rough stared at me for a moment before sitting down. His red eyes just stared at me for a moment before he let out a long breath, a bit of flame escaping from his mouth as he did. “Alright.” There was a sort of resignation to his tone, but I could also hear the hint of hopefulness.
I smiled up at him, pulling out another bean. “Here, have a pokebean,” I said softly.
He looked at for a moment, and then down at Guff, who was devouring the other one. Rough seemed more than a bit reluctant, but took it from my hand. I knew the moment that it touched his tongue as his eyes widened and he practically inhaled it.
As I watched them, I thought about the stickers. Rough had reacted badly because neither Guff or his Trainer were there and he didn’t know what was going on. The last thing he probably remembered was being beaten unconscious, and then he wakes up in the Pokecenter without his owner or brother. Of course he would panic. It was clear just from the way that he sat so close to his little brother that he cared a lot about him. That was probably also part of the reason he agreed to accepting my help.
A protective older brother, trying to keep his young and naive little brother safe.
“Do I have to go back in my pokeball?” Rough asked once he was done with his bean. He was looking around, taking in his surroundings.
I shook my head. “Not for now, as long as you behave.”
He seemed to mull that over for a moment before nodding. “Alright…”
“Rough! Rough! They’re watching television!” the little pup exclaimed, bouncing back and forth. “Can we go watch?!”
Rough looked down at Guff for a moment before looking at me, asking with his eyes. I nodded. “Yes,” he said and the little dog practically bolted towards the group of other Pokemon. Rough sat for a few more seconds before standing up with a sigh and following after him.
The other Pokemon seemed a bit unsure at first at the new arrivals, until I heard Guff ask them what they were watching, and Rio practically exploded into an excited explanation about Mystery Dungeon. Rough sat down a bit away from the group, not wanting to get too close to them, but close enough to keep an eye on his brother.
I took a deep breath, turning my attention back to the fort. It was pure luck that my first try had gone so well. I knew that. None of the others would be even half as easy as this. There might be a few that were mislabeled because of the circumstances, but I wasn’t going to rely on that.
Pulling out the next Houndour pokeball, I checked it against the list as I removed the band. “Houndour, male, between five and six years old.” I tossed the ball, letting them out.
The moment they had solidified they took a fighting stance, legs spread, teeth bared, ready for a fight. It took several seconds before their eyes started to dart around, their expression becoming confused. They were waiting on an order, but weren’t getting one. He risked a look behind, searching for his owner, but when he didn’t see them he started to look around in a more frantic manner.
I just remained quiet, watching them. They stared at Cara for a long time, waiting to see if she would attack him. But she was far away and not moving. Now he was just confused. Eventually his gaze turned back to me, eyes looking for answers.
“My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace. I’m your new owner,” I said, knowing that I was going to have to repeat that line so many more times that it was going to get annoying.
His head flopped to the side, now even more confused. “I’m… Bleak,” they said softly and I wrote it down on their ball.
“Hello Bleak,” I said with a soft smile. “Would you like a treat?” Yeah that seemed to do it. Immediately he perked up and sat, trying to sit as still as possible, but I could see his tail wagging. I reached into my bag, pulling out a pokebean. “Come here.”
He hesitated, his ears folding back as he eyed the unfamiliar thing for a moment before getting up and slowly approaching. It wasn’t surprising that he didn’t know what the bean was, but the way he was hesitating to approach was a concern. Each step seemed reluctant. He didn’t want to be close.
I held out the bean as far as I could, making no other movement. The closer he got the more hesitant his steps were. It was clear he was worried that I was going to lash out. Or yell at him. It was why he sat down immediately at the mention of a treat; he was expecting me to throw it to him. Or worse, at him.
This is a bit more like the difficulty I was expecting.
But I just had to take it slow.
Finally Bleak was close enough and slowly took the bean from my hand. I slowly pulled back my hand as the dog took a few steps back. “It’s okay,” I said softly, noting how they flinched at my words. “It’s okay.” I put my hand onto my lap as they backed away a few more steps.
I didn’t like that untrusting look they were giving me. They slowly laid down, putting the bean on their front paws before they began to eat. They started to relax as they ate and I looked away, looking over at Guff and Rough. Rough had sat down, while Guff was just blankly staring transfixed at the screen, tail wagging.
Turning my attention back to Bleak, he was just laying in front of me, staring at me, his ears still back. “You’re my new master?” he asked, clearly feeling a rather large mixture of emotions.
“For now.” He tensed at my words. “If you want to stay with me, that’s fine. But my goal is to either find a nice Trainer who will take care of you, or release you.”
He frowned. “Trainers aren’t nice.”
“Some are,” I said with a smile. “But I will admit that a lot aren’t. Which is why I’ll take care of you until I find a good one.”
They just stared at the ground between us for a moment before nodding. “Do I have to go back in my pokeball?”
“Not right now. As long as you behave.” That seemed to relax them a bit as they untensed.
He was hesitant, but eventually he got up, walking off into the garden. He avoided going towards the other Pokemon, choosing to instead wander to the other side of the room. His pace quickened as the further he got away until he was running. There was a happy look on his face as he just ran.
I watched him for a moment as he just sprinted back and forth by the water feature. Eventually I pulled out the next ball and unlocked it. “Houndour, male, six years old.” Tossing it, they had the same reaction as Bleak had. Tensing up and readying for a fight. However they panicked when they didn’t see their Trainer. They shifted back and forth, eyes darting around.
I introduced myself, and explained that I was their new owner. And they… collapsed. Simply flopped over. Their eyes closed as they just whimpered, curling in on themselves. “It’s okay,” I said, keeping my voice low. “No ones going to hurt you.”
I wasn’t sure if that would help, but I just continued to gently reassure them that everything was fine. After about twenty minutes they seemed to calm down enough to actually look around at where they were. Again all I could think of was how this poor thing wouldn’t have even gotten a chance.
Maybe I needed to teach a class to Joy’s on how to calm down traumatized Pokemon? That might be a good use of my time. Their sticker system was good, but they weren’t giving the Pokemon long enough to get a good read on them. My heart ached at the thought of how many Pokemon were put down because someone was rushed and didn’t take the time to give a proper diagnosis.
My thoughts were interrupted as the little canine had crawled forward, literally crawled, not even daring to stand in my presence, and was now directly in front of me. He didn’t make eye contact, his eyes were unfocused but appeared to be watching my hands. Slowly and carefully I pulled out a pokebean, gingerly placing it in front of them. “It’s okay… Here’s a little treat for being a good boy…” I said softly.
His eyes refocused, staring at the bean. He was shaking slightly. He was expecting to be hit. It took a few more minutes before his eyes flicked up towards my face before locking back onto the bean.
Slowly his neck extended, his head turning to the slide slightly as his mouth opened. Gently he grabbed the bean with his teeth before pulling it back towards himself. “Do you have a name?” I asked softly.
There were a few moments of him just absolutely focused on the bean, enjoying the taste of it. “Rascal…” he mumbled.
“Okay, Rascal. You don’t have to go in your pokeball for now, as long as you behave, okay?” I said softly.
He gave a very slight nod, his eyes darting around.
“Bleak is over there by the water,” I said with a slow gesture. “And Guff and Rough are over there watching television with the rest of my Pokemon.”
Slowly he stood up, still not making eye contact or even really looking at me, before he slunk away, making his way towards Bleak, who had run out all his energy and was laying on the bank of the artificial pond.
I took a deep breath and pulled out the next ball. “Houndour, male, eight years old,” I mumbled and tossed the ball. Rather than having an aggressive reaction like I was expecting, they seemed to just sit there, unmoving. I made my introduction, but they didn’t respond. Their eyes were a bit glossed over and unfocused.
For the first time so far, I actually stood up. The movement not getting a reaction from them. Slowly I walked over, careful with every step until I was standing in front of them. They hadn’t moved. I knelt down and reached out slowly, placing my hand on the top of their head. My eyes started to wander over them, trying to see if I could tell what was wrong. They were breathing, but other than that seemed unresponsive.
“Hey,” I said softly. “Are you okay?”
He just slowly blinked. How did Joy think that this Pokemon needed a red sticker? Had he gone catatonic like this during the examination, or in the time after? Gently I grabbed hold of the Houndour’s muzzle by the lower jaw, turning its head slightly. Its eyes continued to stare blankly, though they were vaguely aimed at me. That was a relief, that there was some awareness in that head.
With my other hand I reached into my pouch and pulled out a pokebean and held it up. “Do you want a treat?” I could see the slight way that his nose twitched and his eyes seemed to focus a little more. Gently I pulled open the canine's mouth and put the bean between his teeth.
The little dog didn’t bite down on it, but he did grip it in his teeth. He sat there for a moment before laying down and starting to eat the bean. That far off, unfocused look never left him. Clearly he was having some sort of psychological shell shock.
Slowly I backed away, letting him slowly nibble at the bean. Once I felt I was a good distance away, I looked over at Cara, who also seemed a bit puzzled. I made my way towards the group of Pokemon, Cara staying where she was in order to watch the Pokemon. “Dee,” I said once I was nearby.
The pink Pokemon had been sitting on a blanket, with Mikyu and Banette in her lap, the three of them watching tv. She turned to me. “Hm?”
“This one,” I said as I held out the page and pointed at the entry. “Joy marked them red and yellow, however they are…” I looked back at the dog that was just slowly eating, even from here I could see that some of the bites it took missed the bean entirely and got nothing but air. “Some of these are very wrong.”
She looked past Cara and me at the Houndour, her brow furrowing a bit. “I… I honestly wasn’t paying a lot of attention to what she was marking them as,” she admitted, her brow furrowing quite a bit as she thought back to it. “Do you think…”
“No. I don't think she did it on purpose,” I said as I put a hand on her shoulder. There was that moment where Joy had broken down, because she didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t trained on how to do this and she knew it. “I’m just trying to figure out the reason for the inconsistencies. How long did she give to assess each Pokemon?”
“A few minutes? Once they were healed, she would note how they acted for a few minutes, and then document,” she explained slowly. “That’s the uh… standard procedure.”
I don’t think I could frown more than I was frowning now. “A real psychological evaluation would take an hour. Maybe thirty minutes if you’re really good at it…” I mumbled and then sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose as I thought. “I can’t rely on these at all… The entire system is scuffed…”
With another sigh, I pulled out my phone. This was going to be a long and annoying conversation.
Chapter 20
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
Wolf Pack:
Houndour x12 - Houndour
Guff - Excitable little pup
Bleak - Feeling freedom
Rascal - Subdued
Unnamed Male - Catatonic for some reason
Houndoom x6 - Houndoom
Rough - Protective older brother
Poochyena x4 - Poochyena
Mightyena x7 - Mightyena
Sneasel x2 - Sneasel
Liar - Liepard - Big hungry cat
Chapter Text
My phone was still ringing. She had actually declined my first call, sending me a text saying she was busy, but I was way too pissed off to really care about that. The frown hadn’t left my face since I had walked away from Dee and returned to the little Houndour. It had managed to finish the pokebean, but then he was just sitting there. Shaking.
It had taken me several minutes to coax the dog into the shelter. I had started by gently petting him, being careful to watch for any overly sensitive spots, and thankfully I’d found none. Eventually he had allowed me to bring him into the fort. Several more minutes of gentle reassurance and pets had gotten him to close the gap, actually pressing into me for comfort. He had made the decision that I was safe. While he still had that vacant stare, he wasn’t shaking anymore.
Jumping to something physical like that was a stupid thing for me to do. Dangerous. He could have easily reacted badly and lashed out. A rash decision that could have easily gotten me hurt, but I needed to show him that it was okay. That he was okay and I wasn’t going to hurt him.
And thankfully it had all worked out.
How many of them were like this? Some of them seemed unaware of what was going on, but this one knew. That was the only explanation I could come up with for the reaction. And like Rough, this one had been told what was going to happen to him. What was supposed to happen to him. I honestly couldn’t decide what was worse… Being put down without knowing why, or being told that you would be put down if your owner was caught.
A soft whimper drew my attention from my thoughts, and I started to rub behind his ears. That seemed to be the spot that he liked the most, or at least was the most comforting. Joy had declined my call again and I was just sitting there, staring at my phone. “It’s okay,” I said softly, probably for the hundredth time now. “No one’s going to hurt you…”
He tensed when I spoke, but relaxed after a moment as if registering what I said.
Joy didn’t text me again, and I decided to wait a bit before trying again. It was good to also take the time to calm myself down. I had to remind myself that this world was different. They had a different mentality. They’d grown up under different teachings than I had and didn’t have the knowledge that I did.
They didn’t know.
My phone started ringing and I stared at it for a moment. I had been laying there for quite a while, zoning out. The Houndour had relaxed enough to fall asleep, so that was good. When I answered the phone, I was met with a very annoyed looking Farm Joy. “Is there something you need, Jason?” She was trying to keep her tone level, but I could tell that I had pissed her off.
I briefly wondered what I had interrupted but quickly came to the conclusion that I didn’t care. “How many Pokemon do you think are put down due to a false classification?” I asked softly, not really looking at the phone.
It took a moment as her face turned from suppressed anger to confusion. “What?”
“This mess of a pup was marked with a red sticker,” I said as I adjusted the phone to show the dog. He seemed to have really calmed down, and honestly had probably passed out from the tiredness that comes from over stressing. “Honestly I don’t even want the answer to that question… But it’s clear to me that all of the Joy’s need more training on making psychological assessments.”
She was still frowning at me, or maybe just frowning in general, and she didn’t look mad at all now that she was watching the canine. I could tell that she wanted to say something. Probably make excuses, or try and explain things, but she knew the system didn’t work. So instead she just sighed. “It’s not a pleasant topic.”
“It’s awful. I have barely started, and the only one that was right was the green. They’re just scared and don’t know what’s going on,” I said as I had to start petting the Houndour again to get them to calm down. “And it doesn’t help that they know.”
That confused her, and she blinked a few times. “Know what?”
I put my hand over the dog's ears to muffle the sound and hope they didn’t hear the conversation, even if they were asleep. “They know they were going to be put down,” I said softly, trying to make it so that only the phone could hear me. “Those Team Flare bastards are telling them that if they get taken from them they’re going to die.”
Joy had a rather pained expression on her face now. “They’re using the system to threaten them into obedience…”
“And the system is so beyond scuffed,” I said, gritting my teeth to keep from getting too angry. “You all need better training. You can’t just consign someone to death after watching them for two minutes. They’ve been traumatized. Abused physically and emotionally. Starved.”
She was obviously frustrated. Clearly she knew that it wasn’t a very good system, but she couldn’t do anything to fix it. Or maybe she didn’t know how. The statement that the current way they did things was all that was left of the best attempt was probably very true. “What do you suggest? We can’t have some sort of… Program like you want to do.”
“It doesn’t need to be that complicated. I am trying to figure out the best sort of system to implement, but it’s going to take me some time to get anything in order.” I shifted a bit, trying to get comfortable. The movement caused the dog to wake up a bit startled, but a few ear scratches settled that down after a moment. “But I have a lot of Pokemon to trial and error my way through the start of it.”
“Right… Well, I am open to suggestions,” Joy said, though she sounded reluctant.
“First, you need a longer observation period. Thirty minutes at the minimum, an hour would be best,” I explained, not really paying attention to her reaction.
“That is a large time investment,” she said, not disputing what I was saying, but from her tone I could tell she was frowning.
“Irrelevant. They need to be given a chance to calm down and understand their situation. You’re a nurse. Speed is important when it comes to physical injuries, but when it comes to psychological ones, speed is going to do nothing but make things worse.” I looked at her, tilting the screen so that she was actually looking at me rather than at the dog. “Trying to rush mental health recovery is how you get villains.”
Her brow furrowed, not making the connection.
“Trauma does more than hurt someone. It makes them vulnerable. Vulnerable to being hurt more easily, or to being influenced by others with honeyed words.” I took a deep breath before continuing, “Let me tell you a story… I know a boy who went through a traumatic event. Most of the adults he knew were killed; everyone he looked up to. And then no one took the time to help him. So he did his best to help all the others that were in a similar situation, and did the absolute best he could. But he’s a child. There’s only so much he can do. He doesn’t ask for help again because everyone brushed him off the first time, so why would they help now?”
Soft whimpering returned my focus to the dog as I started to pet him again until he calmed down. It was clear he didn’t like the story.
“And then those adults that didn’t help him start arguing with him. Start putting him down. Telling him he’s living his life wrong, when it was the best choice he had and they didn’t help him find a better one.” I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice even and level so as not to make the canine uncomfortable. “So he becomes bitter. And untrusting of the adults he knows.”
Joy was silently listening, her lips pursed tightly together.
“Then an adult comes along that he doesn’t know, sees this struggling boy and the group they’ve made. They praise him. They raise him up. Give him the help that he so desperately needs. Confirm aaaaall of his ideals. Then they begin to twist those ideals. And before you know it, that boy and his entire group are now just a bunch of thugs.” I looked at Joy for a moment through the phone. “And all that happened because someone that should have helped him, dismissed his trauma.” Maybe I was twisting Guzma’s story a bit to fit my own narrative, but it was close enough. I just needed to get my point across. “People, and Pokemon, just need a chance. If that boy had been helped, then things would have been different.”
She let out a breath that was a mixture between a huff and a sigh. “Okay. I get it. You don’t need to lecture me.”
I chuckled a bit and actually managed to smile some. “I wasn’t trying to. I just needed to get my point across.” I had to shift a bit to show the crowd of Pokemon. The other Houndour had gone over to join them, and even the Houndoom seemed interested in the show. “That’s a green, two red, and a pink sticker chilling out and watching tv. And all I had to do was talk with them and explain things.”
“Not all of us can do that,” she said with a sigh.
“Then you train Pokemon to do it. Train those Wigglytuff and Audino, and whatever else, how to calm them down and figure out what they need,” I explained. I realized I should probably bring Dee in on this and get her to learn so that I’m not doing this alone. “They just need to be told what’s going on and given some time. Pokemon are a lot smarter than most people give them credit for. And if you’re willing to put in the effort, I’m sure that they could all learn to do a fantastic job.”
She looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding slowly. “Right… Okay, I can add that to the program. Might be rough getting it integrated, but I’ll have to run it by the Clan Leader first. Although I’m sure she’ll agree.”
That got me to pause and think. “Clan Leader?” I asked slowly.
She gave me a rather puzzled look before realization seemed to dawn on her face. “Ah, right. You wouldn’t know about her. She said she was going to try and meet you, but I guess that hasn’t happened yet. Then again, she’s in Sinnoh so coming here just to meet you is a little much.”
I let out a soft snort. “Right, well, I can meet her when I go to Sinnoh eventually.”
Joy nodded at that. “Yeah. Alright. Okay. I’m going to start trying to implement some more… what would you even call it?”
That was actually an important thing I guess. “Personally, I would just call it psychology training. No need to sugar coat it or give it a fancy name.”
Again she nodded. “Alright. Well, we have a place to start.”
“Right.” I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I’m sorry for my attitude.”
She huffed a bit. “It’s fine. You’re… You’re doing a good thing. That is extremely stressful. I don’t think anyone that has a heart can really stay mad at you.”
I smiled a bit. “Thanks. Anyways, I have a lot of Pokemon to talk to. I’ll talk to you some other time.”
With a nod, she hung up. Again without saying goodbye.
“Alright…” I turned my attention back to the dog as I put the phone down. “Feeling better?”
The Houndour took a deep breath before nodding. “Yeah… I just… I’m scared.”
Gently I began scratching behind his ears again. “I know… And I’m not mad at you for that. It’s scary. But you’re okay. You’re safe.”
He nodded a bit, taking in a few more deep breaths, the last one letting out a little puff of smoke. “What… What’s going to happen to me now?”
I smiled a bit more before explaining, “Well, the goal is to find you a Trainer that will be nice to you, and take good care of you. Or release you when we find a good place.”
His face scrunched a bit, which looked rather amusing considering the large skull like plate on his head. “I can’t stay with you?”
“You can,” I said softly. “But I want what’ll make you the happiest. That might be with me, that might be with someone else.”
That seemed to confuse the little pup, but eventually they nodded. “Okay…”
It was good that they were a lot more comfortable. “Now then. Do you have a name?”
The little dog’s tail wagged a bit. “My name is Dilly.”
“Alright, Dilly.” I paused. “Do you have a friend named Dally?”
He blinked at me. “Yes?”
I chuckled a bit, a rather big smile on my face. “Alright, what Pokemon are they?”
His head tilted. “They’re a Poochyena.”
“Okay.” I shifted a bit to get at my bag, pulling out the three Poochyena balls. “Do you know which one?”
They sniffed at the pokeballs before gesturing with their nose towards one. “That one.” I wondered if they could smell the Pokemon through the pokeball, or if they were smelling their old Trainer on the ball.
I checked it against the notes that I had. “Poochyena, female, five years old.” The ball also had a red and yellow sticker on it. I wrote Dally on the pokeball.
After taking a deep breath, I tossed the pokeball out of the little fort, watching as the black and gray dog burst into form. Immediately they stanced, ready for battle. Then they saw Dilly and immediately relaxed before tensing again when they saw me.
“Hey there,” I said softly. “My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace. I’m your new Trainer, and you’re safe. You’re not going to be hurt.” I tried a new wording to my introduction. Immediately I felt like it needed a bit of work.
She seemed very suspicious, glancing between me and Dilly. Dilly moved over to her and pressed against her. “It’s okay… We’re safe.”
Dally seemed to practically collapse into the other dog, taking deep breaths. The two of them had a quiet conversation between each other that I couldn’t hear. This was going to be something that I tried to focus on. Finding pairs, or groups that knew each other. Calming down one and then helping me assure the others was going to make this process go much faster.
“Do you want a treat, Dally?” I asked as I pulled a pokebean from the pouch.
Both of them immediately perked up. “Oh, oh. Dally, you have to try one. They are the best treats I have ever had.” Dilly’s little tail was wagging so hard that it was a blur.
She seemed a bit hesitant, but with a bit more persistence from the other dog she eventually took it. And then practically melted on the spot. “Oh that is so good…” she mumbled between bites.
I could really feel the smile on my face now. “Alright. I have a lot more Pokemon that need help, so do you two feel alright going around? You won’t have to go back in your pokeball for a while, as long as you behave, okay?”
Both of them nodded and stretched a bit almost in perfect unison. Then Dilly spoke up, “There’s a lot of Pokemon over there. We can play with them, right?”
I nodded in response. “Yes. But just keep any roughhousing on the light side, okay.”
Both of them had a rather happy look on their face as they trotted away, and I noted they didn’t actually give me a response to my request.
With a bit of a sigh, I grabbed my phone before crawling out from the fort. Cara looked relieved, judging from the way she slumped. I walked over to her. “You need to relax.” I pat her head softly.
In response, she flailed her arms at me. “I’m worried.”
“I know,” I said before taking a deep breath. “I’m going to change how I’m doing this. I need Dee to help me. Can you get her?”
There was a puzzled look on her face, but she nodded and practically appeared over near the group. Sometimes I really had a hard time tracking her with my eyes. It was like sometimes she was moving faster than normal, or I was just somehow keeping better track of her, but only when there was combat going on. Some sort of battle adrenaline, maybe? An interesting thing.
I looked over the list again as I waited for Dee, trying to think of what to say. Should I just be blunt about it? Sometimes that was necessary. Maybe that was a good idea. Just be open and honest with them about what was going on.
Dee coming up beside me grabbed my attention. “Do you need something?” she asked softly, seeming a bit tense for some reason. She was probably worrying over why I called her over.
“I want you to help me with this.” She blinked at me. “I plan to work together with Joy to get a program going, even if it’s a very simple one. It should help out a ton, and prevent all these false labels.”
She seemed to bristle at my words. “Fa… false labels?”
I shifted a bit, wrapping my arms around her as I saw her eyes start to water. “It’s okay… It’s okay…” I should have expected the implication of my words to hit her immediately. She probably hadn’t put much thought into it when I brought it up earlier, but actually hearing my call them false seemed to flip the switch of realization. She grabbed hold of my shirt as she began to softly sob. There was really no blaming her for this. She was just doing what she was taught, and there was no helping that she was taught wrong. “Just all the more reason to fix it,” I said softly.
Cara came over, concern evident on her face. She didn’t say anything, but stood close and rubbed Dee’s back. It took a few minutes before Dee composed herself, taking several deep breaths before pulling away. “I’m okay… I…” She paused, taking a few more deep breaths. “I’m fine.”
“You sure?” I asked softly.
She nodded. “Yes. I… We really need to change things…”
I nodded.
Cara was clearly still worried, but Dee spent a few moments reassuring her that she was fine. It was a lot of back and forth that honestly made me smile a bit. Eventually Cara seemed placated and moved back to watch from a distance once again.
Dee turned to me. “Okay. I… So… What do I do?”
I gave her a head a few pats before grabbing hold of my list again. “I mostly want you to observe, maybe help if needed. When we get through a few more, I want you to try and calm them.”
She nodded but remained quiet.
Once I was sitting again, I pulled out the next ball, gesturing for Dee to stand more behind me. “Houndour, male, two years old,” I said as I undid the lock around the pokeball. The younger ones always seemed easier.
When I released them, just as those before, he took a battle stance, fur bristling and fire spitting from his mouth. A bit more ready for a fight than the others.
“My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace. You aren’t being put down, and we aren’t going to hurt you. I’m your new Trainer,” I said. That had been the best wording I could think of to explain the situation to them.
It seemed to have worked as they relaxed slightly. Of course, there wasn’t going to be an immediate change. They were still obviously wired, ready for a fight.
“Would you like a treat?” I asked as I pulled out a pokebean. “You can have a treat as long as you behave.”
He immediately perked up at the word treat. All of these Pokemon were probably held to a pretty harsh reward and punishment method of training. Of course they were still wary, eying Dee as they approached. But when he got close enough, he grabbed the bean and bolted. He went straight into the shelter, clearly seeing it as the only place of cover that was nearby.
I didn’t react, just smiling as I watched him devour the bean like he had never had something that good before. I gave them a few moments to enjoy the bean before asking, “Do you have a name?”
He was clearly hesitant, eying me suspiciously. “Fret.”
“Okay, Fret.” I couldn’t help but smile a bit more. “You can wander around this room, as long as you don’t cause any problems you can stay out of your pokeball for a while.”
“Really?” he asked almost immediately, clearly not believing me.
“Yes, really,” I said with a nod. “Do you have any friends?”
Slowly he shook his head, slowly exiting the fort. His eyes were clearly looking over at the large group of Pokemon in the corner.
“Those are all my Pokemon as well.” I tried to keep my tone as gentle as possible, which seemed to work as he nodded and started to make his way towards the group, clearly recognizing some of the Pokemon that were out. Maybe not friends, but familiar faces?
The next was another male Houndour. He was eight, and reacted a bit more like Bleak had. More confusion than panic. His name was False. He was actually part of a team. Grubby, a four year old male Houndour, was apparently his best friend and his mood flipped completely when I released them. Grubby was absolutely ecstatic when he saw False, the two of them happily chatting.
However the next Hounder was a problem. Another male, ten years old. After my introduction and attempt at reassurance, he wouldn’t stop growling. He refused to talk to me, just growling. My attempt to give him a treat was ignored, and when he started actually spitting a bit of flame I decided that I’d have to come back to him. So I returned him and put the lock back around his pokeball.
The next four Houndour were all female, and I realized that was how Joy had organized them. The first female was two and her reaction caught me off guard. Unlike every Pokemon before her she just seemed so… defeated. Even after explaining things to them, they just refused to lift their head. She didn’t reject my offer for a treat, and was actually the first one to eat it out of my hand. Her name was Gabby, and she actually liked her Trainer. They had been really nice to her.
I had almost started to feel bad until I asked her if she had any other friends from her Trainer. A twelve year old Poochyena named Glum. When she had pointed out the pokeball I felt a shiver down my spine. Glum had a purple sticker.
When I released Glum, he was an absolute mess. The moment I started to go through my introduction speech he had flinched at my words, staring at me in what I could only really see as horror. He was shaking so bad until Gabby had pressed against him. I had expected him to flinch away from her, and it looked like he was going to until he recognized who it was. Then he fainted.
“He does that,” Gabby explained, pawing gently at the other dog's side. “He’s fine. He just… Master said he winds himself up, and when he gets too tight he explodes.” It sounded like he had some sort of severe anxiety.
I nodded a bit, and then jumped when Glum shot back up, and then was acting like nothing happened as he started to happily talk to Gabby. The two of them talked for a bit before Gabby practically dragged him over to me.
Once he was in front of me, I did my introduction again. He still looked at me like I was going to eat him. However he did relax once I offered him a treat. But before he had even finished eating it, Gabby had started to drag him towards the large group of Pokemon, demanding that he introduce himself to, “All our new friends!”
The next on the list was a one year old female Houndour. Thankfully the pattern had held, and the younger ones were easier to deal with. Her name was Bungle and after she took one bite of the pokebean she immediately and proudly declared, “I love you, new master.”
That got a good laugh out of me and I reached out, petting her head softly. “Do you love me, or pokebeans?”
She hesitated, looking down at the bean. “Can I have another pokebean if I say you?”
I snorted. “Not right now.”
“Then I love pokebeans,” she said, with absolutely no shame in her tone as she started to eat again.
I laughed even more. “Losing to a bean. New low for me.”
Dee pat my head. “There, there.”
Swatting at her hand lightly. “Bungle, do you have any friends or family that your old Trainer owned.”
She had finished the bean, and was now sitting obediently in front of me. “Yeah! My sisters.”
“Oh? And who are your sisters?” I asked, curious as that sounded like more than just one other.
“Well, there’s my oldest sister Immodest, she’s a Mightyena. And my older sister is Disaster, she’s a Houndoom,” Bungle explained, a rather far off look in her eyes.
I nodded a bit as I pulled out several pokeballs. “Do you know which pokeball they are?”
It took her a moment of sniffing and examining them. “This is Immodest, and…” she looked at the other group. “This is Disaster.”
After putting the other balls away, I looked at the corresponding numbers. Immodest was a fifteen year old Mightyena, a pink and yellow sticker. Disaster was thirteen, and had a red and yellow sticker. While I was looking, Bungle had moved closer, laying her head on my leg. I took a moment and decided to start with Immodest first.
Tossing her ball, I almost immediately regretted it. Before I even knew what happened, Cara was there, and the massive dog was rolling away across the ground, having been kicked away to the side. I hadn’t even seen either Pokemon move.
She shook her head, growling at Cara. “Don’t,” I said firmly towards Immodest.
Her attention snapped to me, and then the growl seemed to die in her throat when she saw who was in my lap. I could practically see the way all the strength left her body and all the anger and fury was snuffed out. “Bungle?” she asked meekly.
Everything had apparently happened too fast for Bungle to notice as she sat up, giving Immodest a big puppy smile, tail wagging. “Immodest! This is our new master. He’s nice and has tasty treats!”
The Mightyena’s eyes darted from me, to Bungle, to Cara, then back to me. Cara was still in a fighting stance, and I had to reach over to touch her side. “It’s okay Cara. Good job.”
Cara glanced at me and then huffed before relaxing.
I grinned a bit and reached up, scratching her back. “Good girl,” I said.
She slapped my hand away while making a scoffing noise, but her tail was wagging something fierce.
Immodest only hesitated for a moment longer before slowly making her way over. I could tell she was trying to seem nonthreatening, but was clearly upset. She stopped a few feet away and sat down, looking at Bungle. “You’re our new Trainer?”
I nodded and gave my little introduction spiel, emphasizing that none of them were going to be put down. That noticeably got her to relax. “Would you like a treat?” I pulled out a pokebean and held out to her. Bungles eyes were practically popping out of her head as she watched the bean pass over her.
The Mightyena seemed to take note of the action and snorted, taking the bean. Her face immediately lit up when she tasted it, and again I was extremely thankful that I had requested so many of them. As I watched the Pokemon slowly savor the colorful bean, I thought about them for a moment. I remembered in the game that they were used for raising affection… And clearly it was having some sort of tangible effect on the Pokemon that ate it.
While I doubted it was making them more friendly towards me, it was clear that they had some sort of soothing effect. Maybe I should eat one? Were they addicting? From what I could tell, they were like a mild drug. Oddly nutritious, filling, and relaxed the Pokemon. Maybe they caused the body to release endorphins? Honestly that would make the most sense. Should I add them into my pokeblock recipes?
Dee tapped my back lightly with one of her ear stethoscopes to get me to refocus back in. The Mightyena known as Immodest was just staring at me. It looked like they wanted to say something, but seemed to be unable to as I was just staring at them while I was thinking. “Alright. Now let’s bring out your other sister.”
That seemed to perk her up, and her tail twitched a bit. When I sent out Disaster, I wasn’t attacked immediately. But she did let out a howling breath of fire into the air and exclaimed, “Freedom!”
I had to struggle to stifle any laughter as I knew that reaction far too well. When I started to do my introduction she seemed almost uninterested, looking at the other Pokemon that were around instead. When I was done, she looked at the Mightyena. “Immodest. What’s going on?”
The other dog rolled her eyes in response. “We have a new Trainer, and we aren’t going to die.”
There was a moment of silence as everyone just sort of stared at the fiery canine. “Oh. Good.” She sat down, scratching behind her horn with her back leg.
I chuckled a bit. “Would you like a treat?”
“Oh boy would I!” Disaster exclaimed as she trotted over. “I love treats. Especially mangos.”
“Those were oranges,” Immodest said, her expression surprisingly flat.
“Yeah, they were orange,” the dog replied, nodding, before she sat down in front of me.
I snorted slightly as I got another pokebean out of my pouch. There was an almost desperate look from Bungle as I gave Disaster the bean. “Greedy little thing,” I said softly before giving Bungle another bean.
Disaster took one bite. “Holy fuck these are way better then mangos!” she practically shouted before enthusiastically chomping away at the bean.
I laughed, everyone else seemed to just shake their head at the silly dog's antics. I honestly thought that her name seemed quite fitting. “So… what now?” Immodest asked, glancing at me, but trying to keep Cara in sight at all times.
“Well, you three can wander the room. You don’t have to go in your pokeballs for a while, and you can stay out as long as you behave,” I explained with a smile.
“Hell yeah!” Disaster shouted and immediately bolted. It wasn’t even two seconds later before there was a splash and a shout of, “There’s a pond!”
Immodest just sighed as she turned and started walking away. “Come on, Bungle. Let’s explore.”
“Okay!” Bungle happily trotted off with her sister.
I took in a few deep, slow breaths. Immodest had gone straight for the kill. She must have recognized me from the battle. Thankfully I had made sure to have distance and kept Cara within range.
After taking a few deep breaths I leaned back a bit onto my hands, staring up at the ceiling. It was painted to resemble a sky, which was kinda nice. Both Cara and Dee stood in front of me. “Are you okay?” Dee asked.
I smiled a bit and nodded. “Yeah. Just getting a bit stressed at all this,” I replied before sitting back up and rubbing my face. “That’s only fifteen… But it’s been going a lot better than I thought it would. Only one being difficult…”
Cara seemed to fidget a bit on her feet. “Are you going to keep going?”
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “I have to at least get through all of them and explain things so they’re not just a bundle of nerves.”
It was obvious she didn’t like that answer, but she nodded before returning to her watchful post not too far away.
“Shouldn’t you take a break?” Dee asked softly.
I smiled at her. “Oh, I’m about to. I want you to try and calm down the next one.” She frowned a bit at me, but I just smiled. “Oh come on, you’re a nurse. Just treat them like a patient that you have good news for.” I pulled out the next pokeball on the list. “Houndour, female, between one and two years old.” As I spoke I removed the band. Dee looked apprehensive, watching me. “Do you want your weight off?” I asked as I held the ball out to her.
She hesitated, taking a moment to mull it over in her head. Eventually she nodded, and took the ball from me. I got the remote out and turned off her vest. “Wh- what do I do?” she asked.
“Introduction. Explain the situation. Reassure.” I tapped my fingers as I spoke, giving the three basics.
All she did was nod, looking at the ball, turning it over in her hands as she looked at the stickers. I could practically hear the words I said earlier about their inaccuracy, which caused her expression to sour for a moment. After taking a few deep breaths and positioning herself a bit more forward, she tossed the pokeball. It was honestly a hilarious sight to watch an Audino throw a pokeball, because she used her little ear dangles to help with the throw. She had even caught the ball on its return with her ear rather than her hand.
As soon as it was released, the Houndour got into a battle stance and waited for the order to start fighting. Dee was quick to give her version of my introduction, “My name is Dee. I’m a nurse. You’re not being put down, nor are you going to be hurt. This is Jace, you’re new Trainer,” she finished by gesturing to me.
The little dog was confused, but relaxed the more Dee talked. The first notable relaxation came when she mentioned she was a nurse; the Pokemon knew what that was. And it was probably comforting to know she was okay. She still seemed a bit hesitant, but sat down, trying to keep her eyes on Dee, but constantly glancing over to me.
“Do you want a pokebean?” Dee asked, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “They’re really tasty treats that your new Trainer has.”
I chuckled a bit. “You’re the one that’s supposed to be comforting her. You can’t just throw the responsibility immediately on to me.”
“Why not?” she asked with a huff, looking back at me. “You’re the one with the treats.”
That made me pause as I realized I should have given one to Dee. “Ah, I guess that’s true.” I shuffled a bit to retrieve a pokebean, holding it out a bit to the dog. She was hesitant to approach, but was doing so at the promise of treats. “Do you have a name?”
“Dwindle,” she said, slowly taking the bean from me.
I smiled at her as she started to devour the bean, her eyes lighting up with a sort of vibrance that I was starting to get used to seeing. Used to, but not tired of. “Okay, Dwindle. Do you have any friends or other Pokemon your Trainer owned?”
She flinched, stopping mid bite. That was a bad reaction. She hesitated, seeming to mull over things. “We… We don’t have to go back to master, right?” she asked quietly.
“No,” I said, matching the softness of her tone. That seemed to get her to relax a bit. “I’m your new Trainer, and you won’t ever see your old one.”
There was this odd sense of relief in her body, the type that actually causes the muscles to relax to the point of collapse. Because that’s what she did; collapse. It was more of an abrupt laying down, but that’s what it was. “There’s…” Again she hesitated. After taking a few deep breaths, and glancing between Dee and I a few times, she spoke, “Hazard. She- she’s a good girl. She always… She always draws the master's focus when he gets mad, so he doesn’t hurt me…”
“I’m not going to hurt you, or Hazard,” I replied, still keeping my voice soft.
“Can… can she have a treat, too?” Dwindle asked, clearly struggling to make eye contact with me.
“Of course she can.” I pulled out another bean, putting it on the floor. “What kind of Pokemon is Hazard?”
“Houndoom,” was her response.
I only had two more Houndoom from the first batch, and unfortunately I was pretty sure which one it was. However, to be sure, I pulled out the two Houndoom pokeballs. “Which one is hers?”
She gestured to one. “That’s hers.”
Just as I had feared, it was the one with the purple sticker. I sighed softly as I wrote Hazard on the ball. “I’m going to call her out, okay?”
Dwindle seemed to bristle at the thought, looking around almost in a panic before forcing themselves to calm down. I was confused at the reaction, but I decided not to comment. “Okay… But she’s probably going to be upset. She doesn’t like open spaces. Open spaces means… training…”
I held the ball for a moment, looking down at it as I collected my thoughts. With a slight toss, the Houndoom burst forth. They stood at their full height, seemingly not daring to move as their eyes darted around. They were clearly confused at what was going on.
Before I had a chance to introduce myself, Dwindle had grabbed the other bean I had taken and out made their way quickly towards the other dog. “Hazard. Our new owner is nice and has treats,” she said as she placed the bean down.
Hazard glanced at Dwindle, then at the bean, then towards me. Their entire body seemed to bristle as they stared, a look of panic in their eyes that they were clearly trying to suppress.
I proceeded with my introduction, emphasizing that they weren’t being put down and that they were safe. While some of the panic lessened, their eyes were still darting around. “You can go into the little fort behind you if you want. Dwindle said you didn’t like open spaces.”
Without a word the dog glanced back for a fraction of a second before they started to slowly back away. Once inside they visibly relaxed, letting out a fiery breath that they had apparently been holding. They sank into the blankets and pillows that I had set up underneath, although their eyes never left me.
Dwindle had nudged the bean towards them, the two of them speaking quietly. They were clearly doing their best to reassure each other. While the Houndour was a lot more willing to give me a chance, there was obvious apprehension. Neither of them trusted me. But I wasn’t going to hold that against them. I doubted many if any of the wolf pack I’d interacted with so far trusted me.
…. Maybe Guff?
But that was fine. I could earn their trust slowly. As I watched Dwindle and Hazard out of the corner of my eye I looked down at the last Houndour. Female, about four years old. I tapped Dee on the side, which startled her.
Her cheeks puffed when I chuckled at her. “Relax,” I said softly, holding out the next pokeball. And a bean. I wanted her to do the full job on her own so that she can get used to it. “We’ll send her out away from the others, so Hazard and Dwindle can have time in the shelter. And hope this little gal doesn’t need it,” I added.
She turned a bit to face away, out towards the empty area. I noticed that a few of the canines had started to wander around, mostly at the pond. Disaster had drawn a lot of attention, and most of the Houndour seemed to know who she was.
Dee took several deep breaths before throwing the ball. As usual, the initial reaction from the Houndour was aggressive, but she relaxed after Dee explained things to them. They asked several times, in several different ways, that she was certain they weren’t going to be put down, to which Dee assured her every time. That was a bit sad to listen to, as if they had had it practically drilled into their skull that their Trainer being arrested meant death.
Although it was reassuring that every time Dee told them they were going to be fine, they relaxed a little more. Eventually coming up, looking at me curiously as I watched them. When I asked for her name she said it was Crass. Then she got a treat and was absolutely ecstatic, eagerly chomping away on it.
Something hard pressing into my back caused me to stiffen. Slowly looking back, I could barely see Hazard, who was pressing her horns into my back, her eyes closed. She seemed to be just… taking deep breaths. I could see Dwindle off with Disaster’s group, playing in the water.
“I’m hungry…” came a small voice that very much did not fit the large dog.
“Would you like more pokebeans?” I responded softly, matching her tone.
She made a soft “Mhm…” noise as she nodded, which inadvertently rubbed her horns against my back.
I couldn’t help but smile as I slowly reached into the bean bag, pulling out two of them and holding them behind my back for her. Much to my surprise she started to eat them out of my hand. She was extremely gentle. Hesitant with every bite. Looking back at her I could see that she was keeping her eyes mostly closed, clearly the open area making her uncomfortable. But at least she felt safe enough to come and ask me for food.
As Hazard slowly nibbled at the pokebeans, I thought about what steps to take next. Technically the next one I had most of on my list was Mughtyena’s, but half of those were Admins. And I was going to save those ones for last. After a few moments of thought, Hazard having slunk back to the shelter once done, I settled on the two Poochyena.
Dee was still talking with Crass, continually assuring them that everything was alright. Though it was clear to me that it had actually become a sort of game to the canine, trying to see how long she could keep up the back and forth.
“Poochyena, male, four years old. Severe body scarring…” I paused, that was the first significant note that I had seen on any of the files so far. As I looked at the stickers. Red, purple, and yellow. Honestly I should really just ignore the yellow stickers. Maybe all of the stickers in general. That’s mostly how I had been doing it, but I had a feeling the purple sticker was going to be accurate.
Glancing up, Dee was standing next to me, looking down at the ball. Looking around for a moment I could see that Crass had gone over to the television gang, absolutely enamoured by it. I definitely needed a portable television…
“Are you ready for the next one?” I asked as I held out the ball, and a pokebean.
She nodded, wearing a rather determined expression. “Yes. This is… uhm… honestly easier than I thought? It just…”
“Takes time,” I said, nodding. “This one will be a bit more difficult.”
Dee just stared at the ball for a moment before nodding. She tossed it out and what appeared was probably the most ragged little pup I had ever seen. Immediately I felt a tightness in my chest. They looked like they had Manepox, but the damage was…uniform. This dog looked like it had been partially skinned.
They were in a battle pose, but there was no light in those eyes. It didn’t growl, or try to look menacing. He just stood there, eyes glazed over like he had completely detached. Dee faltered, unable to form words as she looked at the dog in front of her. I wondered if she even remembered this one's checkup.
Reaching forward, I placed a hand overtop of Dee’s. That seemed to snap her out of it, and she took a deep breath before going through her introduction.
He didn’t move.
She tried to offer him the treat, taking a few steps forward and holding it out. Which didn’t get a reaction out of him.
Standing up, I put a hand on Dee’s shoulder. “He’s… mentally broken. Disassociated.”
Her head moved more to face me, but her eyes never left the little dog. “Wh- what?”
I wasn’t sure if she was asking because she didn’t know, or didn’t understand. “He’s mentally shut down so that his old Trainer couldn’t hurt him anymore…” I took a deep breath, taking the pokebean out of her outstretched hand and moving over.
Not once did his eyes focus on me, staring off into the distance and waiting for a command. I sat down in front of him, getting a better look at the injuries across his body. All of his fur had been shaved short, and most of the scars… They looked like tally marks. I didn’t want to know what they had been counting.
But I could guess.
Everytime he failed to listen to a command, or did something the Trainer didn’t like…
“My name is Jason,” I started softly, “But I prefer Jace. You’re safe with me. They can’t hurt you anymore.”
There was an almost imperceptible movement. A slight relaxing of muscles, but other than that they didn’t move. Not a single twitch or flick of the ear, his eyes locked onto something far away that only he could see.
Another catatonic, though this one seemed… worse. At least Dilly hadn’t been tortured, as far as I knew, and had more just locked up because they were scared. This one had been conditioned to be like this.
I knelt down and held the treat in front of him, putting it a few inches in front of their nose. The other canines had been more assured that it was safe to eat after smelling it. “Are you hungry?”
That managed to get the second noticeable response from the pup; he started drooling. It wasn’t a lot, but it was a reaction.
“It’s alright. You can eat it. It’s for you.” I pushed it a little forward, almost touching his mouth with the bean. “They’re tasty, and I have a lot. So you can have more after you eat this one.”
A few moments passed before his nose twitched, and his eyes ever so slightly shifted. He hadn’t focused, but I had at least gotten him to register that something was different.
Slowly I sat down, just holding out the treat. Movement out of the corner of my eye caused me to look over and I saw Immodest approaching. I was a bit surprised that she was coming over. “Did you want another bean, Immodest?” I asked, keeping my voice soft to not startle the other dog.
She didn’t even look at me, staring at the unmoving dog. “That’s Detach,” she said.
Now she had my full attention. “You know this Poochyena? Is his name Detach?”
It took a moment before she slowly shook her head. “That’s just what we call him… His Trainer calls him Useless.” The dog flinched at the word. “But none of us want to call him that, so we started calling him Detach because he’s completely detached from reality.”
I frowned a bit. “That’s not very nice.”
She actually shrugged in response. “The nice gets beaten out of us real quick.” She paused. “It’s rare for it to survive.” She was looking away, and I knew that she was probably looking at Disaster. “Detach’s old Trainer was horrible. I hope they killed him.”
That was a bit surprising to hear. But I honestly couldn’t really argue for the man's safety after seeing what he did. “Yeah.”
It seemed she wasn’t expecting me to agree with her, considering the look that she gave me. Our eyes locked for a moment before she looked back at Detach. “He’s not going to do anything unless you order him. Like…” She paused, and then straightened up a bit. “Detach, eat.”
Watching as the dog suddenly took the bean from me, putting it on the ground before he started to eat hurt to see. That actually hurt. “He won’t do anything without a command?”
She shook her head. “No. I’ve seen him stand perfectly still for like… five hours because his old Trainer went to do other things.”
“You know a lot about him?” I asked, though it was hardly a question.
“They like making us older ones train the younger ones.” Her face scrunched a bit. “Although usually we’re ordered to just beat on them. We try to hold back, or at least I did. I know Disaster does, too. His old Trainer just wanted him to get beaten up…”
My attention was back on Detach, watching as he finished the pokebean and then returned to the neutral position and remained motionless. “Why would he do that?” I muttered, more to myself than to either of them.
“He wanted a Houndour,” she said, frowning. “Poochyena wasn’t good enough for him.”
Silence fell for a moment before Immodest moved closer, and pressed her head against the smaller dog's side, her eyes closed. It was good to know that she was the caring type. And if what she said was true, maybe it would be a good idea to have her with me for the other Poochyena? Worth trying.
But right now I needed to focus on Detach. Despite her effort, he still hadn’t moved. I thought back to what she had said and decided to try the first thought that crossed my mind. “Detach.” For the first time he actually focused on me. It was rather rough thinking that he could recognize the tone of being ordered. “Relax.”
He collapsed practically instantly, which startled Immodest. It took her a moment of staring down at the little dog. “That… worked?” she asked hesitantly.
I was a bit surprised, too. “I guess so? He’d probably never been ordered to relax before, but I figured he knew what the word was, so if I gave the command maybe he would follow.”
His eyes were closed, and he was breathing slowly. Had he fallen asleep?
“Can you do me a favor, and watch over him?” I asked, looking at Immodest.
She didn’t even hesitate to nod. “Yes. We all have to look out for each other since we’re in this-” she hesitated. “New situation.”
I arched a brow at her.
Again she seemed to hesitate. It seemed like she was really struggling to find the words. “I’m struggling to think this is real,” she said finally managed. I noticed how Detach opened his eyes to look up at her, but she didn’t seem to realize it. “I feel… conflicted. There are so many of us… Why am I special? Why do I get a happy ending when there are so many others that don’t?” She slowly fell silent.
Slowly I reached over, but hesitated. I wanted to pet her, but I wasn’t sure if she would be willing to accept that. And the way she eyed my hand made me think it was a bad idea. “You know, there’s actually a term for that,” I said with a bit of a smile, putting my hand down. She gave me a quizzical look, so I continued. “It’s called survivor’s guilt. It’s something that a lot of people with PTSD suffer with. That’s post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Her face seemed to scrunch up a bit. “So… other people feel this, too?”
I nodded. “Yes. Everyone in this room has gone through some sort of traumatic event. Some more severe than others, but you can’t compare trauma. Trauma is trauma.”
“And trauma causes… PTSD?” she asked slowly, as if tasting the acronym.
“It can,” I agreed with a nod. “And has, in pretty much everyone here.”
There were several moments of silence before she spoke up again, “Does it get better?”
“It does,” I said softly. “As long as you let it. Unfortunately it will never leave.” I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Trauma is like a wound on your soul. And like any wound, it needs to be treated and allowed to heal. But it’ll always leave a scar.”
“Scars are something I’m used to,” she muttered. “Guilt is not.”
I smiled a bit. “Then how about you help me?” She raised an eyebrow at me. “I still have quite a few Pokemon that need assurance that they’re okay.”
She seemed to mull it over for a few moments before slowly nodding. “Okay… I think I can do that.”
“Great. You can start with Detach here,” I said as I gestured at the dog who was doing their best impression of a ragdoll.
Now her brow furrowed as she looked at me, glancing a few times at the dog. “What…what do I do?”
“Just make sure he knows he’s safe.” I gestured back to where I had been. “I’ll be over there if you need help.”
“That doesn’t tell me what to do,” she said with what was probably an exaggerated frown.
I chuckled. “Try and see it from his point of view. If you were in his position, what would you want someone else to do for you?”
She really seemed to be thinking hard about this, as her face was scrunched up in thought. It was honestly adorable. After almost a minute of thinking, she moved to Detach and laid down, curling herself around him. Her tail went over his face, and she started to murmur softly to him.
I couldn’t make out most of what she was saying, but I did hear, “It’s okay…” and “I’m here…”
Satisfied with that, I slowly stood up and made my way back towards Dee. Looking over at the little fort, it was empty. “Where’d they go?” I asked Dee.
She pointed over towards the television. “Dwindle convinced her to go over there.”
Sure enough, Hazard and Dwindle had joined the group. Both of them seemed a lot more comfortable being surrounded by other Houndour and Houndoom, although Hazard was staying underneath one of the tables. “Okay.” I took a deep breath. “Let’s keep going.”
The last of the Poochyena was also a female, one year old. She seemed a bit cautious and unsure at first, but after I explained things she immediately perked up. She introduced herself as Aloof. She nearly interrupted her own introduction when she spotted the other Pokemon. Immediately she started to run towards them before coming to a skidding halt and coming back. Then she asked if she could go play with her friends.
With a smile, I gave her a bean and told her that that was fine, and she could stay out of her pokeball for a while as long as she behaved. She happily agreed to that as she snatched the bean and sprinted towards the others. Dealing with the young ones really was the easiest.
That just left the larger dogs and the two Sneasel. I decided to do the two cats, and clear all the first stages before moving on. Of the two, both were marked red and yellow, but one was marked purple. Looking at the two pokeballs I tried to decide which to do first. They appeared to be a pair, a male and a female, but I couldn’t be sure about that.
I decided to start with the male, and handed the ball to Dee, along with a bean. “Sneasel, male, seven years old,” I explained. She grumbled a bit about having to keep doing this, and how I was so much better at it. I just pat her on the head.
She did eventually toss the ball after mentally steeling herself. When the familiar blackened blue feline appeared it looked hesitant. He looked like he couldn’t decide whether to prepare for a fight, or if he should run. Although as he looked around he seemed to come to the conclusion that there was nowhere to run.
Before he had the chance to think about attacking, Dee started her introduction. Again she emphasized that none of them were being put down.
“Where’s my sister?” he demanded immediately, cutting off the last bit of her question.
“The other Sneasel?” I asked, looking at the pokeball in my hand.
He seemed to spot the pokeball as well and I saw the way he bristled. “Yes,” he said, clenching his teeth.
In response I tossed the ball out, and the other Sneasel appeared beside him. All of the tension seemed to leave his body before he practically tackled her into a hug. That seemed to catch her off guard until she realized who it was and immediately returned the embrace. “Oh thank Arceus you’re okay,” she said.
“You both are,” I said with a bit of a smile. “You’re not being put down. I’m your new Trainer for now, and my name is Jason, although I prefer Jace.”
“New Trainer?” she questioned, looking at her brother.
“I guess so. Looks like our old one got-” he didn’t say anything, but dragged a claw across his throat to emphasize the point.
That seemed to actually get her to giggle. “Good. I… I don’t want him to touch me anymore…”
“And he can’t,” her brother assured, squeezing her tighter.
I tried very hard to ignore the implications of what she had just said. “You don’t have to worry about him anymore,” I added, hopefully to help assure her. “We have some pokebeans for you two.” I pulled out two more beans for emphasis. “And you can stay out of your pokeballs for a while as long as you behave.”
Both of them seemed hesitant, looking at each other. “It’s alright,” Dee said with a smile. “While he’s a bit strange, he’s a good human.”
“Hey. Rude.” I laughed a bit at her comment.
She just gave me a smile before taking one of the beans and walking over to the two felines. They accepted the beans from her, continually glancing at me like I was more of a threat than the pink menace standing next to them. “What are your names?” she asked.
“Brisk,” the male said.
“Brash,” the female said.
I marked it on their pokeballs as Dee continued to talk to them. She spoke softly, and I actually couldn’t hear what she was saying. Whatever it was seemed to be enough to get them to relax and have a quiet conversation among the three. The two cats finally broke apart from their embrace, looking at me for a moment more before nodding to me and wandering off.
They went over to the pond, and I sighed as Dee walked over. “See? You’re good at this,” I said as I reached over, rubbing her back.
“Brash doesn’t like humans,” she said rather bluntly, a frown on her face.
“That’s fine,” I mumbled, still rubbing her back. “I’m not a fan of most of them myself.”
She looked at me, her frown deepening a bit. “You really aren’t, are you?”
I just pat her back before moving back to the papers. “Let’s do these three Houndoom, and then move onto the Mightyena.”
She nodded before taking the other bean that I had taken out, and eating it. I smirked a bit at her and she just huffed, muttering that she was hungry.
I just nodded and then found the next pokeball. “Houndoom, female, seventeen,” I paused. “Pink sticker…” I looked over at Cara, who was still standing watch. She stood up a bit straighter when I looked over.
This one I decided to throw myself. When they burst forth they let out a howl that was infused with a massive gout of flame towards the ceiling. That got every single Pokemons attention. Rather than every other Pokemon before her, she didn’t get into a fighting stance. Instead she just stood there stoically, carefully examining her surroundings. Her expression seemed… puzzled? “Well?” While her voice wasn’t very loud, it definitely held authority. “What’s going on?”
It seemed like this might have been the Pokemon of the leader of that little raid. “You have a new Trainer,” I said.
Her attention snapped to me and she eyed me a moment before letting out a flame infused scoff. “You?”
“Yes. Me.” She frowned at my response, glancing at the pokeball in my hand and then at the Pokemon around. “It’s either me, or being put down.”
All of the Pokemon that were listening, including her, flinched. She huffed out a bit of flame. “So it’s either you, or death,” she grumbled. She actually seemed to think about it as she looked me over again. “Fine. You have the honor of being the new Trainer of Malevolence.”
I smiled a bit. “It’s good to meet you, Malevolence. My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace. Have a treat.” I threw a pokebean to her and she snatched it out of the air.
Judging from her expression, catching it was not a conscious action. She grumbled a bit before eating it, her eyes widening a bit. “Oh? This is actually pretty good.”
Rather suddenly she was tacked from the side by another Houndoom, bowling both of them over. “Mal! Mal! We have the same Trainer again!”
“Disaster…” she practically growled, but I noted how she didn’t actually seem to be that upset as the other dog rubbed against her excitedly. “I suppose this means Immodest is here as well?”
“Yeah! She’s-” she stopped and looked over at Immodest who was still comforting Detach.
Malevolence followed her gaze and practically shot up, launching Disaster off of her as she stood up, quickly making her way over. “Immodest what’s-” she stopped, frowning. “Ah… it’s Detach…” Her voice was a lot softer, almost gentle. Her attention suddenly turned to me. “Who else do you have?”
“Most of them are out,” I explained. “I’ve two more Houndoom, and six more Mightyena that I’ve not gone through.” I paused as I remembered one other. “Ah, and there’s a Houndour that wouldn’t calm down.”
“Give me that one,” she snapped.
I saw the way that Dee’s hands clenched and I reached out to grab her wrist before she went over. “It’s okay. She’s just got an abrasive personality. She’s not actually being rude.”
Both of them seemed to huff in response which got me to smile. I got out the last Houndour pokeball that still had one inside, and then tossed it out near Malevolence. Immediately it stanced up and started growling. “Enough of that,” Malevolence snapped, actually snapping her jaws in the air.
That actually seemed to work and snapped him out of whatever mental state he was locked in. “Ma- Malevolence?” he muttered.
“Yes. Now. Enough of that.” She stomped the ground, and then pointed at me. “Go and greet your new Trainer, Muddle.”
He seemed to shrink in on himself as he quickly made his way over to me. “H- hello. I’m Muddle,” he said softly.
“I’m Jason, but I prefer Jace.” I held out a pokebean. “Have a treat.”
He was extremely hesitant, glancing back towards Malevolence as if asking for permission from her, but she had already turned her attention away, and back to Detach. Slowly he took the bean and laid down before he began eating it. After that first bite he sure got enthusiastic about it, tail starting to wag. Without thinking I reached forward and pet the top of his head, which seemed to confuse him, but he didn’t seem to get upset about it.
“You can wander the room, and as long as you don’t cause any problems, you can stay out of your pokeball for a while, okay?” I explained with a bit of a smile.
Again they seemed confused, but eventually nodded and headed off towards the pack that had gathered around the television. Most of them were over there now. Over twenty Pokemon just absolutely locked in on a screen.
But now it was time for the first Admin Pokemon. “Houndoom, male, twenty two years old.” Dee made a move to accept the pokeball but I shook my head. “This is one of the ones we fought at the train station.”
Her hand practically recoiled. “One of those two that were working together?”
I nodded. “This might go bad.”
However I was immediately wrong, as when I released the Houndoom they just… laid down and closed their eyes. He didn’t make any sort of movement, he was just waiting to die. When I started my introduction his ears swiveled a bit towards me, but otherwise he didn’t move. Until I explained he wasn’t being put down. His head practically shot up. “What?”
“You’re not being put down,” I repeated. “I’m your new Trainer.”
He seemed to think that over, his brow furrowing as he slowly stood up and looked around. “Not… being put down?”
I nodded.
“What about Fear?” His eyes locked onto me. “Is he getting put down?”
“The other Houndoom you were battling together with?” I asked, and he nodded. “No.”
He actually made a ‘tsk’ noise and looked away. “I guess it’s a good thing that the idiot's alive,” he grumbled, though I could see that he seemed to relax a little.
I snorted softly. “Don’t like him?”
He growled a bit, flame escaping from his mouth. “We’ve been forced to train together and against each other for fifteen years. I can’t stand him.”
I nodded a bit. “Well, you won’t have to fight against him, or with him anymore if you don’t want to.”
A huff of flame escaped him. “Good.”
“Do you want a treat?” I changed the subject, and immediately noticed the way he perked up at the mention of a treat. I tossed him a pokebean, and he eagerly devoured it. “You can stay out of your pokeball for a while, as long as you behave.”
He just grunted, finishing off the bean. Without really looking at me he wandered away, licking his chops.
I waited till he was a good distance away before throwing out the other pokeball. There was that immediate rush of what I believed to be the Unnerve ability, but it certainly didn’t match the creature that appeared. He looked almost happy? He started to look around but before he could get distracted I started my introduction, which pulled all of his attention onto me.
When I was done, he actually trotted over, sitting down a few feet away. “Okay, so. New Trainer. Neat. I’m Fear on account of everyone’s afraid of me for some reason?”
Being this close I could honestly feel why. There was just something about this Houndoom that made you want to get away. And I could tell from the way that Dee had tensed, she was feeling it too. “Well, your battle partner told me a little about you.”
Immediately there was a big smile on his face and his tail started to whip back and forth. “Loathing is here, too? Oh that’s great. He’s my best friend, you know? We’ve known each other forever and our Trainers are- er… our old Trainers were brothers. Can I go play with him?”
“Have a pokebean first,” I said as I held one out. He happily munched away on it. “He’s over there,” I said as I pointed. Apparently Loathing was paying attention, and when I pointed him out had a look of utter betrayal on his face before Fear turned towards him.
His tail was whipping and lashing around as he sprinted over, stopping before bowling into him. Fear excitedly chattered away at him, and Loathing seemed almost reluctant to listen, although I could tell that he was.
“What a tsundere,” I muttered with a laugh.
Dee gave me a confused look. “Sunda what?”
I snorted. “Tsundere. They come off as extremely harsh and aggressive, maybe even hateful. But they actually care a lot and just show it in a weird way.”
She just looked even more confused. “So they… show affection by being mean?”
“Pretty much,” I said, laughing a bit more. “Loathing is trying really hard to appear that they don’t care, but they immediately asked about Fear. And from what I can see, Fear seems aware that that’s just how he shows he cares.”
“By being a jerk?” Dee asked, sounding fairly bewildered.
I just nodded, and looked back at the papers. This next Mightyena was going to be interesting. Green and purple. None of the others had this combo so I was a bit curious. “Mightyena, male, fifteen.”
As I pulled back my arm to toss the ball, the door opened. “Holy shit that’s a lot of dogs!” I heard Valerie shout from the entrance. Turning back, I noted how every single Pokemon in the room was looking at her. She cleared her throat, coughing slightly into one of her wings. “Sorry…” Ren was at her side and just rolled his eyes.
Slowly I got to my feet, dusting myself off a bit. “All done with your show?” I asked as I walked over, Cara and Dee moving to follow me.
“Yeah. I swear they’re longer when I have guests over,” she grumbled the last part as she closed the door behind her. “How goes uh… your therapy sessions?”
I turned back, watching as most of the Pokemon went back to whatever it was they were doing. “Pretty good, I think. Only eight left.”
Her brow shot up. “Didn't you say there were like, a lot of them?”
“More than thirty. But some of them weren’t that bad, and a lot of them know each other so it makes it easier,” I explained before leaning against the wall next to the door.
“I see…” She was looking around the room at all the different Pokemon. “Team Flare sure likes their dogs, I guess?”
“From little snippets I’ve gotten from them, I think they have some kind of breeding program for Houndour and Poochyena.” It was something that I had picked up on. A lot of these Pokemon shared the same mother, even when they were nearly a decade apart.
“Jeez so they probably have more…” she said softly.
“They have a lot of members, and all this is from about fifteen Trainers.” I didn’t really want to give her specifics, but they also didn’t really matter.
“I think I read in a report once that they have a few thousand members.” From how she shifted, I was fairly sure she had folded her arms inside of her costume.
“That’s a lot of dogs.”
She giggled softly, nodding. “Yeah.” She paused, seeming to hesitate. “I wanted to give you something.”
I raised an eyebrow at her, and after a moment a hand escaped from her costume, and in it was a sort of half oval of gold on a sort of wing design, and an oblong pearl with a large star. “I’m not going to accept that without a battle,” I said bluntly.
“Oh come on, you more than proved your capabilities to me with that fight,” she said with a huff.
“I’m not going to accept a badge without a proper battle,” I repeated. “I’m not Ash Ketchum.”
She had such a flabbergasted look on her face. “Who?”
I paused for a moment, having not really thought about it. It had always kind of felt weird to me that Ash just got badges, some that he did in fact earn outside of a battle, but some of those were just blatant gimme’s. “Ah, you’ll meet them eventually.”
Her expression turned to one of confusion, and then to annoyance. “Is this one of those dumb future vision events that Olympia always rambles about?”
A short laugh escaped me. “You can think of it like that.”
She huffed, and then pushed her hand more towards me. “I still want you to take this.”
I looked at the badge for a moment. “Tell you what. How about we have just a one on one? You mention Ren really wanted a fight-” the Sylveon looked up at his name, “-and I don’t feel right about taking it without one. How about that?”
Her face scrunched a bit as she thought it over. After a few moments she nodded. “Alright… Who will you be using.”
“Dee,” I said, pointing at her. She flinched when I did, going stiff.
“Your Audino?” Valerie questioned, clearly wanting to follow it up with more questions, but eventually nodded again. “Alright. I’m full on slots today, but we can battle tomorrow.”
I nodded. “Perfect. I want to get through the rest of these rescues, and then let them settle. Is it alright if I use this room overnight?”
She waved her hand vaguely before tucking it back into her costume. “You can use it all week for all I care. Hell, use it for months. I have too many of these damn rooms in my gym. I don’t know what my great uncle was thinking he’d need ten of these for…”
A bit of a snort escaped me. “Thanks. I might take you up on that for a while… These dogs need time outside their pokeball.”
Her eyes swept over the room. “Yeah… Okay, well, I’ve got time before my next match. Do you mind if I stay and watch?”
“I don’t mind.” I pushed off a bit from the wall to stand back up. “Just know that a lot of these Pokemon don’t like Trainers.”
She nodded. “I’ll keep my distance.”
With a nod in return, I made my way back to where I had been sitting. Dee followed close by, and Cara split off to go and stand in her usual protective spot.
“You really want me to fight?” Dee asked cautiously.
I sat down, still holding the same pokeball. “I know you don’t want to. But you need to.” I sighed softly, pulling out a pokebean. “Were you listening when I was talking about PTSD?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
“And survivors' guilt?” She instantly deflated when I brought that up, her eyes downcast. “I know it’s not something that you can control, but you can work on it. You want so badly to have the strength to protect others, but you freeze up when you have the opportunity.” I was turning the pokeball in my hand as I spoke.
“And…battling will help?” she asked meekly.
“In a controlled environment, like a gym battle, yes.” I reached over and started to rub her back, feeling over her scars. “You have the strength, Dee. You just need the confidence and courage to use it.”
She remained silent for a few moments before taking several deep breaths and nodding. “Okay… Alright. I… I can do that…”
I smiled at her. “I know you can. I just gotta push you a bit sometimes to get you moving.” She smiled at me and nodded. “Now, let’s reassure all these dogs.”
Tossing the ball out I was met with a very skinny Mightyena. Joy had said they were all malnourished, but this was a lot more than any others so far. How did anyone expect them to fight in this condition?
I ran through my introduction, and then immediately offered them food. That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as they started to cower. “Hey, hey… It’s okay. You’re okay. I have lots of food for you, okay? You can eat and no one’s going to hurt you.”
It was clear that he didn’t believe me, but I could also see the way he was drooling. He practically forced himself to approach, clearly trying to fight it as he eventually got close enough to take the bean. And then he closed his eyes, expecting to be punished.
When nothing happened immediately, he continued to wait. It was almost a full minute before he opened an eye to look at me, seeing that I was holding another bean. His eye closed and it was several more minutes before he opened his eyes to look at me.
I had done my best to not move, simply sitting and waiting. Patience was the most important thing. When it seemed like he had finally convinced himself that nothing was going to happen, he started to eat. Every bite was slow, deliberate, and careful. He was clearly expecting to be punished for eating.
When he had finished the bean, I offered him the second one. Again he seemed hesitant, but he took it after a moment and began eating in that same slow way. It was odd to see such a massive dog be so reluctant to eat. “Do you have a name?” I asked softly.
His eyes snapped to me for a moment, taking a few seconds to process what I said. “Dreary…” he said so softly that I almost couldn’t hear him.
I wrote it down on his pokeball. “You don’t have to go back into your pokeball if you don’t want to for right now, as long as you behave.”
Again it seemed to take them a moment in order to register what I said before they just nodded, backing away slowly from me before looking around. He seemed to spot someone he knew, as his tail wagged a bit and he headed off towards the television crew.
I took a moment to watch him leave, rubbing my face before looking at the papers. This was starting to be a serious strain on my mental health. “I’m gonna need a nap after this…” I muttered.
Dee reached over, patting my head. That brought a bit of a smile to my face. “At least we’re almost done?”
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “Almost done.” I took out the next pokeball. “Mightyena, male, fifteen years old.” I wondered how Joy could tell exactly the age of some, but not others. This one also had a red and the final purple sticker.
I didn’t waste anymore time as I threw out the ball. The dog appearing with worry written all over its face. I was glad that Pokemon were so expressive in their facial expressions; it made reading their emotions so much easier. I started my spiel about who I was and that they were okay, which didn’t seem to do much to ease their worry.
When I offered them a pokebean, they were hesitant, but accepted it. They introduced themselves as Flinch, and actually apologized for being a mess. The rest of what they explained really surprised me, and I couldn’t tell what surprised me more; the fact that this Pokemon knew what anxiety was, or that their old Trainer had actually been trying to help them with it. They had a rather severe case of anxiety and tended to mumble and ramble their thoughts and explanations. In just a few minutes, I knew more about this Pokemon and his old Trainer than I did the rest of the wolf pack combined.
Although most of it I didn’t try and remember, I did take note that he was called Flinch because any sort of rapid movement, or being touched when he wasn’t paying attention, would cause him to startle. His Trainer hadn’t used it as an insult, but instead made it a more endearing term to refer to the dog.
He was sad that his Trainer got arrested, but they both knew it was inevitable. I was a bit surprised that they both knew the outcome of what they were doing, but still went along with it anyways. Flinch didn’t really get it, but his Trainer talked a lot about how much better the world would be when they succeeded, and it was worth it even if they weren’t around to see it.
A true zealot.
Talking for so long actually seemed to calm the canine down a lot, and he seemed a lot happier. I explained that he could wander around and talk with the others, and wouldn’t go back in his ball for a while as long as he behaved. That seemed to improve his mood as well, as he didn’t like being in his ball. Eventually after another sort of mumble storm of information, he wandered off, still muttering.
That had been a rather curious interaction, but now it was for the final four. The last from the Pokecenter encounter, and the three green stickered Admin Pokemon. I decided to save the Admin ones for last, and deal with this pink sticker. “Mightyena, female, about nineteen years old,” I said aloud, mostly to myself, but also to Dee.
Unfortunately I’d gotten way too lax, because the moment it was released and it regained its barings, Cara was there and sending it flying similar to Immodest. I really wasn’t expecting it to be that aggressive, although I really should have.
But before Cara could re-engage her, she was absolutely flattened and then pinned by Malevolence before she could get up. Who, unlike Cara, I had actually seen move to intercept. “What do you think you’re doing, Grim?”
The other dog known as Grim stared up at her with quite a mixture of emotions. Confusion being the one most present. “Ma- Malevolence? But… That’s the guy?”
“That guy is Jace, our new Trainer, and the only reason any of us haven’t been put to death,” she snarled. Unfortunately she was also practically yelling, which drew a lot of the other Pokemon’s attention.
“I… but we were…” Grim seemed to be faltering, trying to figure out what was going on and what words to say.
“I don’t want to hear it,” she snapped her jaws close to the Mightyena. “We’re alive because of him, and get to eat tasty treats. Be grateful.” She shoved off of the downed dog, pushing her further into the ground, before sauntering back over to Immodest and Detach.
Grim slowly got up, sniffling a bit. Clearly she was upset at being yelled at. “While she said it a bit too roughly, she is correct,” I said with a small smile. “You’re not going to be put down because I took you.
She eyed Malevolence as she slowly walked back over. “Okay. I’m… I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I said softly. “I know you’re scared, and I know what you were expecting. Your reaction is to be expected.
Again she sniffled a bit, rubbing her nose with her paw. “She… She said tasty treats?”
My smile grew quite a bit larger as I pulled out a pokebean. “Yeah, and you can have them as long as you behave, alright?”
Her head bobbed up and down rapidly and eagerly took the bean the moment it was offered out to her. She made some mutterings about how they were, “Better than anything I’ve ever eaten,” and the like.
I explained to her the other bits, that she was fine to wander as long as she behaved, and she enthusiastically agreed before making quite a rapid beeline away from Malevolence. I wondered if I did have another run in with Team Flare, if I just released a bunch of the stronger members I’d turned to my side… Would all their Pokemon turncoat immediately? That was honestly a pleasant thought, and something I would have to try.
The last three Mightyena were absolutely the easiest I had done so far. They were all like Liar, quick to turn once offered food. Impulsive was a twenty year old male that was missing an ear. When I asked him about it, he said he didn’t want to talk about it. However, Smug, a twenty two year old female, happily informed me that he lost it playing in a restricted zone when he was a pup.
The third, a thirty five year old female, the oldest of any of the Wolf Pack, was named Hate. Despite her namesake, she was actually quite friendly. I was a bit surprised to see a Pokemon that old, and when I asked her about it she informed me that Mightyena can live past seventy, so she was only about half way through her lifespan. It was very interesting to know that they didn’t share the same aging as dogs at all.
Once the three of them had had Pokebeans, and wandered off, I laid down onto my back. “Ugh… Finally done…”
Chapter 21
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
Chapter Text
I laid there on the floor, staring up at the false sky painted on the ceiling. My mind was going over the last few hours, the things I had done or said. Things that I could have done better, or where I had messed up. Thankfully it had all gone fairly well, and there weren’t many places to improve upon considering all of the circumstances. The only real improvement was having some place specifically for this.
Valerie entering my peripheral vision caused me to refocus a bit. “Are you okay?” she asked, looking down on me.
“Just taking a few minutes to recenter,” I replied. She gave me a puzzled look, but I ignored her for a moment, closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths.
For her part, Valerie remained silent for a few moments before speaking up again. “That uhm… Looked rather stressful.”
I had to think about that for a moment before nodding, opening my eyes as I got up. “Yeah, that’s one way of putting it,” I said as I dusted myself off.
“But… They’re all good now, right?” She was looking around at the different groups of Pokemon.
A humorous chuckle escaped me. “No,” I said with a shake of my head. “Some of them are in better shape than others, but this was just the first step in a long road to recovery.”
She had quite a frown on her face as she was thinking it over. “But they’re going to get better, right?” She sounded quite concerned as she looked around again.
“Whether they want to or not,” I said with a bit of a smile, joining her in looking around. Most of the Pokemon were watching television. It made me think about the scene in One Hundred and One Dalmatians when all the little pups were crowding around in the living room and watching that old western movie… What would be the equivalent to that movie in this world? Especially because Pokemon laid eggs… I couldn’t think of a comparison.
“You make helping them sound like a threat,” she said with a giggle.
“And it is.” I nodded a few times.
That just made her giggle more. “Well, at least they all seem to be comfortable here…” She had a rather thoughtful expression. “They’re all going to need homes, huh?”
Again I nodded. “Yeah. I want them to go to Trainers, or people that will treat them well. Treat them like the intelligent beings they are.”
She had a rather contemplative look on her face. “Yanno… When I first heard about Team Flare, I thought they were like Team Rocket… But the only thing they seem to have in common is that they’re villain teams. And I guess that they steal stuff,” she waved one of her wings vaguely. “I just… I don’t even know where I’m going with this. I think I’m just a bit overwhelmed at… all this…”
“That’s understandable,” I said calmly. It was pretty obvious she was in some kind of distress. “It’s a lot.”
“I just never even considered their Pokemon,” she continued. “Even though I can… Even though I can talk to Pokemon, the thought that a villain’s Pokemon might not also be a villain never even crossed my mind.” She choked a bit on her own words. “Does that make me a bad Trainer?”
I opened my mouth to say something, but hesitated. Her eyes snapped to me when I didn’t immediately respond. “I wouldn’t say that you’re a bad Trainer. It’s… not just you. Everyone thinks that.”
“But you didn’t,” she retorted, almost like it was an insult.
“No. I didn’t.” I sighed. “But we have lived very different lives. And have very different perspectives.”
“I just don’t understand why you’re the only one who looked at how things were going and claimed them to be wrong,” she said, frowning. She was clearly just getting more frustrated.
I gave a short, soft laugh. “But I wasn’t. There’s several failed programs that have been tried in the past.” I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. I was still working to calm my mind from all the stress. “But they all failed.”
“Why?” she demanded. “I just… That’s not… That’s not fair.” She shifted, folding her arms inside her costume, or it would be more correct to say that she was hugging herself. “They weren’t given a chance. That’s not fair…”
“No. It isn’t. It really isn’t. But it’s because so many people don’t see it that way that those programs fail. To the majority, Pokemon are just animals. Or worse, tools.” As I spoke I was watching her. She was clearly extremely upset over this, but I wasn’t entirely sure why it was to this extent. She was on the brink of tears.
And then I realized why. Even before she spoke again.
“They didn’t have to die…” she said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.
There was a story there. A heavy story that I couldn’t begin to unpack right now. I needed to do something else. Something to soften the situation. “Valerie,” I said in a low but firm voice in order to get her attention back on me and out of whatever spiral she was having. “All you can do… All that we can do is do better. Be better.” I reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. “That feeling you’re having right now. That gut wrenching feeling deep inside… Is something you can’t let consume you. And it will try. Arceus it will try. But you can’t let it. Because if you do, you won’t be able to help.”
She was shaking a bit, a few tears were running down her face. Her hand came out from her costume, rubbing away the tears. “Right…” She took a few deep breaths. “I just… We have to help them.”
I nodded. “And we can. It’s difficult, but not impossible.” I smiled a bit as I pat her shoulder.
She nodded a few times, taking more deep breaths. “Right.”
“There’s a saying that I really like,” I said as I pulled my hand away. “The road is long, and rough.”
Again she nodded. “Right. I just have to-” There was suddenly a ping noise from her costume. She blinked a few times and then she scrambled for a moment before pulling out her phone. “Oh shit! My next battle!” She spun and sprinted for the door.
I couldn’t help but laugh as she struggled with it for a moment before dashing off down the hall, the door slowly closing itself in her wake.
Closing my eyes, I stood there for a few more moments, doing my best to recenter. “Right… the road is long…”
“And rough,” Cara added, coming up beside me.
“And rough,” I agreed.
We both made our way over to the large group of Pokemon watching television. All of the dog's attention snapped to me when I entered within ten meters. It was interesting that they could sense my odd aura, but it was probably more that they could feel my presence.
I considered making food, but there were over forty Pokemon here… Could I even make that much food? Did I even have that much food? I folded my arms, closing my arms as I tried to calculate. Since I had two months for twelve, that meant I could feed all of them curry for two weeks.
That would be a ton of food. I didn’t have enough pots and pans to cook it all efficiently, so I would be cooking batches for the next… two hours? No, maybe more like an hour since I wouldn’t be making specific flavored batches for most of them, so I could make more generic curry. That would save on time.
“Right.” I said with a nod as I looked over the group. “Dee, Mikyu, Banette. We’re going to be making dinner.”
Every single Pokemon perked up immediately, and there were probably enough tails wagging to change the air pressure if the room was smaller.
As I started to get out all of my cooking supplies, I was a bit surprised when Malevolence came over. “We are all getting more food?”
There was that ache in my chest again as I turned to her. “Of course. Food is important, and helps you get stronger. If you’re hungry, it slows your progress.”
She seemed to mull that over for a bit, thinking.
“Hey, do you want to help?” I asked with a smile.
Her brow furrowed. “Help?”
I nodded. “Yes, since you can breathe fire, you can help me cook.” I turned to continue pulling things out. I needed to make so much food… “And any of the other Houndoom and Houndour that want can. It’ll be good training for controlling your fire's intensity and longevity.”
Rio and Cara were helping to get everything ready while Mikyu and Banette were starting to prepare ingredients. As they were doing that, Malevolence returned with Hazard and Fear. “We wish to help,” Malevolence said slowly, unsure. It was a bit funny since she always seemed so confident.
“Alright.” I started to explain to them what they were going to do. It took a few minutes of trial and error for me to get them to lower the heat of their flames and keep them at a consistent temperature. But they were very good at using the fire energy, so they picked it up rather quickly.
And like I thought, it was an hour of cooking. I needed more plates and bowls… I had to pretty much continually reuse them almost the moment they were empty. Unfortunately the three Houndoom could only keep up their flames for twenty minutes, which really seemed to frustrate Malevolence and Hazard. But I didn’t expect them to be able to keep up with it the whole time.
The wolf pack got fed first, and many of them also got fed second, as I assured them that they could have more if they wanted. Some just asked for more pokebeans, which I was more than happy to give them. After the first one, Fret, had built up the courage to ask, it was like opening a floodgate. Practically all of them wanted more pokebeans.
The whole hour was honestly good for me to settle down, and I ended up exhausted at the end. But it was worth it. Everyone looked so happy. Even Detach seemed to be far more present, though he was mostly just watching television now and still hadn’t spoken, he had at least eaten.
As I was making the last bit for myself and Cara, Valerie came back. “Oh goodness, what smells so good?”
“Curry,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “Do you want some? I’m just making up the last bit.”
“I- uh… If it’s not too much trouble,” she replied, hesitant.
“Oh please. You’re letting all of us stay here, pretty much indefinitely, the least I can do is offer food.” I held out a plate towards her.
She still seemed hesitant, but eventually her hand escaped from the confines of her costume and accepted the plate, and she took it to a nearby table. She waited until Cara and I were plated and sitting as well before even trying her food. However she stopped when she noticed Cara had the same thing as me. “You feed this to your Pokemon?” she asked.
I looked up, fork in the air. “Ah? Yeah? Oh, I should probably warn you that there’s some pokechow in this. But it’s the higher grade stuff, so it’s perfectly fine for humans to eat.”
She actually snorted at that. “I haven’t eaten pokechow since my Journey, but thanks for the warning.” She froze immediately at that first bite, her eyes taking on an odd sort of far off look.
Cara and I just started eating. I really needed to get that pasta machine… Maybe after battling Valerie I’d go shopping? I was going to need more food anyways. Maybe some kind of portable kitchen set to help speed things along? Did those exist? With the sort of pocket technology that this world had, surely they would have a portable kitchen?
“This is… really good,” Valerie said softly, which broke me back from my thoughts.
“Hm?” It still took me a few seconds to register what she said. “Ah, thank you. I’ve been working on perfecting the recipe, and I think I’m pretty close. It’s better with pasta, but I don’t have a pasta maker or the ingredients for it.”
“It can be better?” she asked incredulously.
I laughed. “Maybe. Probably? Honestly I don’t know. Just as things can always get worse, there’s also the chance for them to be better. Someday I might make the best curry the world has ever known, and be unable to surpass it, but it would never be that good again.”
She stopped eating for a moment, head tilted to the side and her brow a bit furrowed. “Why’s that?”
“Because I could never have it for the first time again,” I said with a chuckle. Her expression remained one of confusion so I decided to elaborate further. “What’s your favorite food?”
Suddenly she seemed to brighten a bit and smile. “Mochi.”
I returned the smile. “Do you remember the first time you had mochi?”
It took her a moment of thinking but then she nodded. “Yeah. That was a really long time ago.”
“Do you remember the second time you had mochi?” I asked, still smiling.
Again it took her a moment, though her brow furrowed. “I think so? Wait, so that’s what you mean?”
I nodded. “That first time sticks with you. Now, when was the time you had the best mochi?”
Her hand went up and she put a finger on her chin in thought. “I think the best mochi I’ve ever had was during my celebration after the League. Even if I didn’t win, we celebrated just how far I got. It wasn’t a big party, but it was nice.”
“Where was the mochi from?” I prompted.
“Oh from this little shop. It was so good, but every time I tried it again-” she stopped, her brow suddenly furrowing.
“It was never as good, right?” I said with a smile.
“It was still really good,” she defended. “But… No, it wasn’t as good. It was still the best, but that first time- yeah okay, I get what you’re saying now. But, why is that?”
“It’s a very interesting thing, right?” I said with a chuckle, looking down at my food for a moment. “I could get into all the little nuances of it, but basically it’s because your brain is saying that that was the best. And something just as good isn’t better, therefore it’s not as good.”
Her brow was still furrowed, and she was frowning. “Yeah, I don’t get that.”
That caused me to laugh, shaking my head a bit. “That’s fine. You don’t have to understand everything.”
There was a moment of silence as we all simply ate, before she asked, “Is there something you don’t understand?”
“Relationships,” I responded immediately.
She scoffed. “I mean besides that.”
“A lot of things,” I said, vaguely waving my fork in the air. “Too many to list.”
“That’s a pretty lazy excuse,” she said with a bit of a giggle.
“Understanding stuff is hard,” Rio’s voice suddenly chimed in from behind before she quite unceremoniously draped herself over my shoulder, practically folding herself over me like a towel. “Like, I don’t understand why you won’t let me fight that.” She was pointing at the Sylveon, who was sitting on Valerie’s lap.
Ren just made a scoffing noise in response. “You hardly seem a challenge.”
Rio didn’t move, but glared down at him. “Big words from something so small.”
“Size hardly means anything.”
“Lame ass retort.”
The two of them started going back and forth, and I did my best to ignore them and finish my meal. Which was a bit difficult considering that Rio refused to get off from over my shoulder. While I couldn’t immediately be sure of how Ren was feeling about the verbal altercation, I could tell from Rio’s tone and slightly wagging tail that she was having fun. I made a mental note that denying the battle hungry canine physical combat enjoys verbal sparring.
After watching the Sylveon for a bit, it was clear that Ren didn’t really feel strongly about it, and wasn’t putting in the effort. Probably in hopes that Rio would grow bored and leave him alone. I was actually curious if that was possible.
Valerie just seemed amused by the interaction. I knew she could understand Ren, but how much of what Rio was saying could she understand? I figured I’d ask, “Can you understand this limp noodle?” I asked, gesturing at said noodle draped over me.
Rio made an offended scoffing noise, but didn’t move.
“A bit,” Valerie said, trying to hide a smile.
I gave Rio’s hand a slight slap as she tried to reach for my plate. “Excuse me, little lady. That is my dinner.”
“But it looks good,” she grumbled.
Suddenly there was a shadow looming over us. “Jace is eating,” Scoly said, causing both of us to look up. “You shouldn’t bother people when they’re eating.”
“Quite right,” Cara said with a nod.
Before I had a chance to say it was fine, Scoly had leaned down, and hooked Rio with her horns before lifting her off of me. “Oi. I was comfortable,” she complained.
In response, the massive bug simply lowered her head as if going to put her down, before using a considerable amount of strength to yeet the canine away and off across the room. We all watched as she flew, hit the ground a few times, rolled a bit, and then came to a sudden stop on her feet. She was standing nearly at the other end of the room, glaring at Scoly. After a moment she simply dusted herself off and started to make her way back over like nothing happened.
However the big bug just laid down, putting her head on my lap with a soft little huff. “Was she bothering you?” I asked softly, reaching down to rub at the top of her head.
“She absolutely refuses to even consider that Cinnamin is a good rescue member,” she grumbled.
“They have been arguing about this for hours,” Primarina added, sounding absolutely exasperated.
“Oh? And who does she think is better?” I asked, mildly amused. It seemed they were having arguments about their favorite characters from Mystery Dungeon.
“Baklava!” she said, exasperated.
I took a moment to think. “That’s the Cinderace from team Hot Cross Buns, right?”
“Yeah! And they’re hardly even there. They teamed up once with Team Loud, and it was cool watching them fight the sky pirates, but then they left on a job to Nori and hardly even get mentioned anymore,” she explained.
I nodded slowly, remembering bits of what she was talking about. I couldn’t quite remember seeing any battles against sky pirates, but that sounded cool. “Ah and you like Team Loud more, hm?” Team Loud was Cinnamin’s team, and they got that name because the lazy Raichu is quite the rock-n-roller. In fact, from what I’d seen, the only reason they even go on rescue missions is because Rigatoni, their Snivy partner, drags them out for jobs.
“Of course,” Scoly said confidently.
“I like Rigatoni,” Primarina chimed in with a large smile. She had come over and put her head in my lap next to Scoly.
“You are obsessed with the noodleboy,” Rio said with a huff as she flopped over Scoly. “You didn’t have to throw me…”
“You look like you needed a walk,” she retorted with a bit of a snort.
I rolled my eyes as the two devolved into bickering and I continued eating. The lack of training was starting to make a lot of them antsy, I could tell. They got so used to it that not doing it was starting to frustrate them.
“Right. Enough of that,” I said as I pat them both on their heads. “You want to train so badly, then how about some stamina training.” I looked around for a moment before spotting the pink diamond crown I was looking for. “Diancie, do you want to help out with some training?”
She practically flew at me, hovering over the table. “Oh yes! Can I throw boulders?”
I snorted and shook my head. “Not boulders, but you can use the weight balls.” She seemed a bit disappointed, but nodded. I had to lift Scoly’s head off my lap before I could get up.
“I’m interested in what sort of training you do,” Valerie said as she stood up as well.
With a smile, I went over to the other side of the room followed by several Pokemon: Diancie, Cara, Rio, Scoly, Dee, Primarina, Sliggoo, and Keo. As well as Banette, to my surprise. “You might want to back up, Valerie,” I warned as I took a look around. She eyed me questioningly, but did so. I gave her a nod when she and Ren were far enough away. “Diancie.”
Her hand swiped down and Gravity spiked. It was an odd feeling, but almost comfortingly familiar. Rio and Scoly both looked super excited. “So. So. What’s the training?” Primarina said.
“Like I said, stamina training.” I pulled all of the weighted training balls out of my bag and let them fall with heavy thuds before walking from one side of the affected field to the other, putting down a marker with a few meters as a gap. As I did so, I explained, “You’re all going to be playing defense. No energy use. You’re all going to go back and forth between these two markers as fast as you can. The only one who isn’t will be Diancie, who will be throwing out attacks.”
“Wait, me too?” Dee asked, a bit surprised to not be on the attack team for once.
“Yes, you too,” I said as I pat her head. “You’re one of the slower members, so you need to work on that.”
“Can we attack each other?” Keo asked.
I thought about it for a moment. Usually I was reliant on the curry for after training healing, but now that I was thinking about it… “Sure.” Immediately I saw the competitive look that Rio and Scoly gave each other. “Just remember that your focus is to be on running. I want at least five hundred laps from Cara, Rio, Scoly, and Keo. And a hundred from Dee, Primarina, and Sliggoo.” I hesitated, looking down at Banette. Her head tilted in response. “Do you want to run laps, or help Diancie attack?”
Her head flopped to the other side as she thought about it. Honestly the adorable little stuffed toy was quite an enigma to me. She’d yet to say a single word to me, but I had picked up that she spoke to the others occasionally.
Kneeling down in front of her, I gave her a smile. “I’m not sure what you want to do,” I said softly. “I know you’re really strong, but you don’t have to fight or train if you don’t want to.” I reached out and rubbed the side of her face, smiling a bit more as she closed her eyes and leaned into my touch as she reached up to grab hold of my arm.
Did she just want some attention? But then she let go of me and joined the rest of the group who were gathering over at one of the edges. They all looked excited.
I moved out of the way, off more towards Valerie. I didn’t want to be anywhere near what was about to happen. “Go!” I announced, and all hell broke loose. They weren’t even halfway across the area when they started to fight. I rolled my eyes as I stepped over to Valerie.
“Is this how you train?” she questioned, clearly confused at the nonsense that was going on behind me.
“Well, it’s a bit different than normal. But if we did what we normally did, I don’t know how damaged the room would be,” I said with a chuckle.
Ren reached out with one of his ribbons, caught off guard when its weight increased as it passed into the gravity field. I watched as he experimented with it, tested it, and observed the others that were training under it. “They’re all under this?” he muttered.
“Ren,” I said down to him, catching the attention of the Pokemon who looked up at me with a quizzical expression. “I’m only going to say this once-” I held up a finger for emphasis. “If you think for a moment… That you can go easy on Dee in the battle tomorrow…” I glanced back in time to see her use Scoly’s own momentum to throw her at Rio. “She’s gonna beat the shit out of you.”
He gulped, but nodded, a determined expression on his face. And also excitement. I was hoping that this would be a challenging battle for Dee. So far, in the few battles she had been in, no one took her seriously until it was too late. I wouldn’t say that I wanted the pink Pokemon to lose, but she needed to work for it.
“Those are some pretty harsh words,” Valerie said with a bit of a nervous giggle.
“But true,” I said with a chuckle. “She hasn’t been in many fights, but she always gets underestimated. It’s honestly frustrating for me to watch, because I watched the way she struggled to get to the level she’s on now.”
Valerie seemed to think this over for a moment. “Is she your strongest Pokemon?”
I smirked a bit and looked over at her. “What would you do if I said yes?”
She frowned a bit at me. “I’m just curious. You’re Pokemon seem really strong, but I’m curious who's the strongest.”
“Physically speaking, I would say yes. I’m fairly certain she is the strongest in terms of pure strength.” I gestured over to the training Pokemon, Cara and Rio were in a scuffle while the others were still running. “But that’s what she’s focused on. Most of them are focused differently.”
“That must get really complicated in training… I know training so many Pokemon makes my head spin sometimes,” Valerie complained a bit, heaving a heavy sigh.
I laughed. “It helps that I was a teacher for so long. Makes dealing with a bunch of unruly kids a lot easier.”
She laughed along with me for a moment before going silent. For a few moments we just stood in silence, watching as a group of ‘unruly kids’ tried to batter each other and run laps at the same time. “Do you miss it? Being a teacher?”
I glanced at her, and then sighed. “Of course. I liked what I did. But if I was still doing that, I wouldn’t be doing this. I try not to think about what if’s and that sort of nonsense. It’ll just drive you crazy.”
She was frowning again, her eyes looking off into the distance. “I wish I could just stop thinking about the what if’s.”
“It’s not an easy thing to do,” I admitted with a nod. “It helps to focus on what you have now, and think about the things you have that you wouldn’t in those what if’s.” A bit of a smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth. “Like your little crush. Would you have met them in your little what if?”
Her face went a bit red. “Okay. Point taken.”
“And when you get the courage to actually ask them out, and become a couple, you can look back at those what if’s and be like, wow I’m glad that things went this way! And then you’ll be like, wow Jace, you were right, this is-” I stopped as I was suddenly slapped by a cloth wing.
“Stop! Okay! I get it!” Valerie exclaimed, her face beat red. “You can stop.”
I laughed, reaching over and patting her on the head. “What’s wrong, Valerie? Can’t take a little teasing?”
She huffed a bit in response, and I could tell that she just folded her arms. “Mean.”
I just laughed more. It took a moment for me to calm down. “Just don’t wait too long, okay?” I said with a smile. “I may not be an expert on the whole relationship thing, but waiting and worrying about how they might react, or what they might say, isn’t good for anyone.”
“That sounds like actual advice,” she said, sounding quite skeptical.
I snorted. “If you want, we can make a bet.” She just arched an eyebrow at me. “For the battle tomorrow. If you lose, you go and confess.”
Her face, which had just started returning to its normal color, started to go red again. “And- and what if you lose?”
I shrugged. “That’s up to you.”
Her brow furrowed a bit as she thought. It took a moment before she sighed. “I can’t think of anything…”
“Well it’s a good thing I don’t plan to lose, then,” I said with a laugh.
She huffed a bit. “I’ll think of something. And it’ll be something ridiculous and embarrassing.”
I laughed a bit more. It was good that my mood had come up so much from today's events. “Well, then we can make it a sort of IOU thing.”
“I guess that works,” she said, clearly annoyed that she couldn’t think of anything and I wasn’t offering suggestions.
“Don’t think too hard, I’ll win and you won’t have to think about it.” I got lightly slapped by a cloth wing again for that comment.
She made an interesting, exasperated sounding noise at me. “Alright. Well, it’s getting late. So I’ll show you to one of the rooms.”
“Oh don’t worry about that,” I said as I waved a hand. “I’ll just be staying in here.”
Her brow arched a bit as she looked at me. “I… Okay, well I guess I should expect that from you considering the rumors I’ve heard.”
“Rumors?” I questioned, glancing at her for a moment.
She had a bit of a smirk on her face. “That you live in the woods like a wild Pokemon.”
A soft snort escaped me. “Well, not much of a rumor if it’s true.”
The smirk on her face faltered and turned into a slight frown. “What?”
“I mean…” I waved vaguely. “I do spend pretty much all of my time in the woods, training this lot. Or at a Pokecenter. It’s not like I have a specific place where I live exactly.”
Her frown deepened. “You’re… homeless?” Her eyes scanned me, as if taking in my details for the first time.
“Technically?” I mused, rubbing my chin. I honestly hadn’t thought about it, but I suppose I technically was. It hadn’t seemed important. “I have my tent, and Pokecenters are all over the place and accommodating.”
However that seemed to be the wrong response as Valerie looked horrified. “You’re homeless,” she repeated, this time it was a statement rather than a question.
“Yeah. It just didn’t seem important,” I explained.
“That’s why you asked if I had space,” she muttered as a hand escaped her costume, rubbing her face. “I thought that it was just inconvenient for you to go home, or your place wasn’t big enough…”
My brow furrowed. I really couldn’t see what the big deal was. I had lived most of my life in a tiny studio apartment. Honestly the tent was bigger than my old place, but that wasn’t important either. “Why’s that a big deal?”
She flinched at my words, and suddenly put up her hands. “No, no. It’s… Okay I can’t say it’s not a big deal. I just didn’t realize you were homeless, and… ugh sorry. It was just a really big surprise. I guess you don’t need a house, being a Pokemon Expert and all.”
I shrugged. “It’s a bit inconvenient sometimes, but honestly I don’t really think about it.”
“Wait.” She seemed to have some sort of realization. “Does that mean you’re not part of the Joy Clan?”
I blinked at her a few times. “No? Why would you think that?”
Slowly her expression seemed to morph into one of pure shock. Like I had just completely destroyed her entire view on how the world works. It took almost a full minute before she finally spoke again. “But… you’re endorsed by the Joy Clan?”
“Yeah,” I agreed with a nod. “I’m not entirely sure how or why that happened, but I really appreciated it.
That was apparently not the answer she wanted, as she looked even more confused. “That… That doesn’t make sense. I just… Everyone was sure that you were- wait, then where were you a teacher?”
“Unova,” I replied. Since it was the closest thing to where I was from, and was actually really far away.
She actually took a step back. “What the hell are you doing in Kalos, then?” she practically demanded. Then quickly added, “Sorry, I just… I’ve never met anyone from Unova. They’re very… closed off.”
I waved my hand vaguely in the air dismissively. “It’s fine. I actually don’t know why. I was going home one evening, got beaten near to death with a bat, and then woke up in the woods of Kalos.”
There was a moment of silence. “That rumor is true, too?!” she exclaimed. “How many of these rumors are true?!”
I laughed. “Well, what other rumors are there about me?”
“Like…” She paused, clearly trying to think of the most outrageous rumor she’s heard. “Like, that you’re some disguised Pokemon walking among humans.”
I snorted. “Well, I don’t know about that. And I would think I would know, since it’s me.”
“Okay…” She seemed to think again for a moment. “What about the one that you fought a legendary Pokemon?”
My brow furrowed a bit. “I mean, you could say that I did on a technicality. Technically the legendary was controlling Cara, and I was fighting her.”
Her gaze immediately snapped over to the canine mentioned, who was duking it out with Rio. “That- uh… Okay I guess that is pretty close to accurate,” she mumbled.
“I did punch ex-Director Yellow, though,” I said as I flexed my fingers a bit. That had honestly been the best punch I’d ever thrown. Was it because of my dark energy, and the fact that it was technically a move? Something to experiment on someday, I think.
“Arceus I wish I had been able to see that,” she grumbled, kicking at the ground. “That guy was such a creep. I wish he’d actually gone to jail, but no. They just stripped him of his title and sent him back to Kanto to face punishment from his Clan.”
I frowned at that. I hadn’t thought about what happened to the former Director before now, but I suppose it was good to know that he was still around. Someone to watch out for. “That’s annoying.”
Valerie huffed. “Right? But that’s kind of to be expected. The Clans are just like that,” she grumbled that last part before shaking her head. “Well, if you’re going to stay in here, I’m going back to my room. I’ll see you tomorrow at about noon for our battle, alright?”
“Alright,” I said, giving her a smile. “Just come and get me when you have the time. Otherwise I’ll completely lose track.”
She giggled a bit and turned, giving me a light slap with her cloth wing as she did. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Be seeing you,” I said as I mussed up her hair.
She huffed and gave me a sort of mock pout over her shoulder as she made her way out of the room.
I chuckled as I turned my attention back to the Pokemon training. “You’re supposed to be running laps!” I called out, seeing as how they had devolved into just fighting each other. “You can fight, but keep moving! You won’t be going to bed until you’ve finished your laps!”
That seemed to be enough to refocus them. I didn’t really want to threaten them, but sometimes that was necessary in order to get someone to remember what they’re supposed to be doing.
“Jace.” A voice from my side got my attention and I turned to see Hate. She seemed a bit cautious, but looked like she had something she needed to say.
“Yes?” I said softly, giving her a reassuring smile.
“Some of the others are… still hungry,” she said hesitantly.
It hurt a bit that she was so unsure about asking me for things. “Alright.” I turned, looking over at the group of Pokemon. A lot of them were doing that thing where they were looking at me, but trying to appear that they weren’t. “I’ll give out some more pokebeans,” I said and reached down, gently rubbing the top of her head.
Her tail wagged and she visibly relaxed. We made our way back towards the group, a lot of which seemed to tense as I got closer. This was going to be such a long process.
Passing out pokebeans to those that were still hungry took a long time. Not because it was a lengthy process, but because so many were reluctant to approach for more food. I had to give Hate a lot of the beans so that she could give them out. Eventually I decided to just start putting beans around, though I had to scoop up Essy shortly after starting as she had been going around and collecting them.
She didn’t seem too upset that I had stopped her, just letting out a questioning, “Beans?” before I explained to her that she could only have one at a time. And while she agreed to those terms, I was unsure if she actually knew what I meant.
Once more beans were passed out, I stood nearby the area, looking over the hoard of Pokemon. Menagerie? Is that a more appropriate term? Although menagerie would imply a varied amount of species, I suppose this group could count as one. There were seventeen different species of Pokemon in this room, after all.
“Alright…” I looked down at Hate, who had been sort of following me around to reassure everyone that everything was alright. “I want to ask everyone a question.”
This got the attention of every single Pokemon in the area. It was almost unnerving to have over thirty pairs of eyes on me.
After taking a deep breath, I spoke, “I want all of you to be comfortable. I want you all to be safe, and do what you want. So I want to know…, how many of you want to battle?” I saw some of them flinch. “None of you need to, ever again. You never have to fight again if you don’t want to, and I will find somewhere for you that you can live comfortably without having to worry. But it’s something that I need to know so that I know how to help you.”
There was silence, and some of them fidgeted.
“You don’t need to decide now.” I looked down at Hate, who looked contemplative. “But I do need an answer eventually. But that can be weeks, or even months from now. And you can change your mind at any time.” I smiled a bit, amused at how serious her expression was. “No matter what you choose, I’ll still take care of you.”
I moved over to the table that those who didn’t go for training were sitting on. Eevee was still curled up on my coat. Liar was there as well, laying beside her. And while Eevee was asleep, the feline was staring at me with a rather odd expression. Like she was trying to figure out what I was. “So you really mean that none of us have to fight?” she asked as I sat down.
“Of course,” I said as I checked on Eevee, picking her up to put her on my lap. “There are already a few Pokemon that I have that are non-combatants. Mikyu doesn’t want to fight.” The little Lucario costumed ghost was busy stitching up the part of my coat the Liar had shredded. “Eevee is too sick to fight. And Essy is…” I hesitated for a moment. “Essy is too young,” I decided was the best way to word it.
Liar looked at the three of them. “So I don’t have to fight if I don’t want to?”
I nodded. “That’s right.”
She seemed thoughtful for a moment. “And what if I do?”
“Well, then I’ll try and find a Trainer that will take care of you,” I explained.
“And what if we want to stay with you?” Hate asked, having followed me.
I hesitated a moment as I thought that over. I was a bit surprised to hear that from Hate. “That would be fine,” I decided. “Although you’d have to start training.” I gestured over to the others on the other side of the room. “Like them.”
Both Hate and Liar looked over, watching for a moment how rough their training was. “They’re really strong,” Hate mused, wearing a thoughtful expression.
“To stay with me, means to be part of my family,” I said, which immediately got their attention. “It means that we all care for each other. We watch out for each other. Protect each other.”
There was silence as the two of them thought it over. I was thinking about what else to say when there was a sudden shout. “I want to fight!” When I looked over, it was Hazard, shouting at Malevolence. Apparently an argument had broken out, and Hazard appeared to be crying.
I put Eevee down, just in case I needed to move to interject. “It is not that simple, Hazard,” Malevolence responded coldly. “We cannot just-”
“We can fight them! We can… We can get others! We can take them back!” Hazard was continuing to shout. Dwindle was between the two of them, clearly trying her best to keep the two separated but not entirely sure how to go about it.
“And what then?!” Malevolence snapped, shouting back. “What are you going to do if we save them?!”
Hazard recoiled a moment from the reaction, but quickly regained her stance. “We can help them! Our new Trainer saved us, he can save more! And we know where places are!”
That immediately caught my attention. I had thought that some of these Pokemon might know the location to more bases, but I didn’t want to pressure them into telling me before they settled. It might have given them the wrong idea; that they were only alive because I wanted information.
“You think I don’t know that?” Malevolence had calmed down from her outburst, her tone returning to a more manageable level. “He has treated us well. So far.”
As I was watching, I could see how the crowd was shifting. A lot of the Pokemon were staying out of it, shifting away. But as more time passed, more and more of them were moving to Hazard’s side.
“You’ve always been a coward, Malevolence,” Immodest interjected, adding herself to the argument. “Look at us all. Really look at us. For once in your life, look at someone else with something besides your self perceived superiority. There’s no hierarchy here. You’re not above anyone anymore.”
I could see the way that Malevolence bristled, smoke leaking from her mouth as she tried to form a retort. “That’s enough,” I said, stepping up beside Malevolence. “You can discuss this as much as you want, but please don’t fight each other.”
“She-” Malevolence started, but I put a hand on her back. That seemed to snuff out any sort of argument in her.
Slowly I knelt down beside her. “I know,” I said softly, rubbing her back. “It’s okay, Mal…” There were little pricks of tears at the corners of her eyes. She was overwhelmed, and hiding behind her bravado in order to not break down. I’d seen the same thing with a lot of teenagers. No one was on her side now. “I know you’re scared,” I kept my voice soft and low to try and keep the others from hearing.
“I’m-” she tried to argue, but choked on the words.
“And that’s okay… You’re scared that if we go after them, they’re going to get you…” I kept rubbing her back, running my hands over the bony ridges. “They’re not going to get you. I’m not going to let them, Mal.”
Her head drooped a bit, and she couldn’t fight the tears anymore. I moved a bit to block sight of her so that the other Pokemon wouldn’t see her crying.
“I’m not going to let them get you,” I repeated, rubbing my hands up and down her neck. She shifted forward in response, pressing her face into my chest.
It took a few minutes before she managed to regain her composure, pulling away from me. “There are so many… And they’re so strong,” she said, shuddering slightly. “I know I’m pretty strong, but I couldn’t even get to the level that Admin’s would want me… And there’s so many of them…”
“Well, there’s five less of them,” I said with a smile, rubbing the spot between her horns. “I know it’s scary, but you don’t have to fight.”
She huffed out a bit of flame. “Like hell I can do that. If I don’t keep this riffraff in line, then it’ll just be more work for you.”
I smiled a bit, patting her on the head before standing up. “Alright.” I turned back at the group that had been silently watching. “We’re all in the same boat. So we have to work together to keep afloat, alright?”
“What’s a boat got to do with it?” Bungle muttered to Disaster, who shrugged in response.
I had to try and not laugh at that response, and continue, “Since some of you seem to have decided, I want to know who wants to battle.”
I was actually floored at the response. It was easier to make a list of who didn’t want to fight: Rascal, Fret, Detach, Aloof, Brisk and Brash. Even after I reassured them that they didn’t have to fight, they seemed adamant. Before accepting, I reminded them that they could always change their mind.
The next question was… should I train them? Since so many want to fight, maybe a few training sessions would help them. Maybe at least build up their strength by subjecting them to Gravity and making them run laps? That would definitely weed out any that didn’t actually want to fight and were just getting caught up with the crowd.
Speaking of training, I decided that it was time to check on how they were doing. Dee was collapsed to one side, having barely passed one of the lines, breathing heavily on the ground. She had quite a number of bruises and marks.
Slowly I made my way over to her, looking down at her. “Dee?”
She made a grunt of response, forcing her eyes open to look up at me.
“I said one hundred laps.” She flinched at my words, immediately confirming that she wasn’t done yet.
“I- I’m just… Just catching… Catching my breath,” she managed to say. She really needed a lot more stamina training.
“Sliggoo is going to finish before you.” I noticed how the little slug was actually having no difficulty at all in her laps. She wasn’t attacking, simply letting every hit strike her and bounce off. Primarina was fairly far behind in lap count, since she was just as fast as the slug, but was actively fighting and attacking the others.
Actually, as I was looking, I was fairly certain Sliggoo would be the first one to finish in general. Thankfully my words seemed to have the appropriate response, as Dee finally got up, and started to try and run laps again. I felt a little bad at how absolutely exhausted she looked, but she needed to do this.
As I watched, I took note that there was a crowd forming. They weren’t anywhere near the area affected by Gravity, but they’d moved close enough to watch. I guess a live show was more interesting than the television.
Eventually the first one finished, and as I thought, it was Sliggoo. And it was adorable as she crossed the line, turned to do another and then stopped before she crossed the line. She then just stood there, clearly counting in her head. Then she suddenly held up her little arms as she realized she was done.
I scooped her up off the ground, which got her to let out quite an interesting squeak noise. “Good job,” I said with a smile.
She gave me a big smile as she started to rub her face against me. I noticed that she was specifically rubbing the little green spots on the side of her head and neck. Studying her for a moment, I wondered how accurate the pokedex entry was. Clearly her mucus wasn’t extremely acidic, otherwise I would have lost a shirt by now. She also didn’t seem to have gone blind.
To test this, I raised a hand, and waved it side to side. She had a puzzled look on her face, but judging by the movements of her head, she was able to track it. “Can you see?” I asked.
She twisted a bit to look at me, now looking completely confused. “Yes?” She paused. “I mean, my eyes aren’t… uhm… Things are a bit more blurry? But I can see stuff. Stuff far away is really hard to make out, and I can’t tell Cara and Rio apart anymore…”
I blinked at her. That was the most she had ever said at one time. I smiled as I rubbed the top of her head. “That’ll go away when you evolve again. Your middle evolution has poor eyesight.” Which was… odd. Why would a Pokemon go from being able to see just fine, to blind, and then having great eyesight again was confusing… Maybe it had something to do with the eyes changing in such a drastic way? Evolution is weird.
“I’m excited to evolve!” she said, wiggling in my arm. “I’ve never seen the final evolution of my species. I’m probably the first to… ever reach second stage…” Her voice faltered a bit as she spoke, and her gaze drifted towards the floor.
It was good that she didn’t have acidic mucus, otherwise the hug I was giving her would have been really bad for me. She had made so much progress in recovering from her trauma, and I was so happy to hear her speaking. I started to gently rub the side of her head and neck, passing my hands over those green spots. They seemed to be…maybe some sort of sensory organ? Ah, no. They’re mucus organs… my hand was now covered in slime. As was my shirt.
I was going to need Primarina to wash me off now.
Speaking of Primarina, she was the second one to finish her laps. She was battered and bruised, throwing herself over the line. “Done!” she exclaimed into the ground.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Good job.”
“Praise me?” she questioned, looking up at me.
A mischievous smirk appeared on my face. “As you wish.” I stepped over, and much to her horrified realization, I started to pet her hair with my slime coated hand.
“Ack! No!” She flailed, slapping at me with her flippers. “Slimey!”
Sliggoo huffed. “And what’s wrong with slime?”
“I don’t want it in my hair!” Primarina whined. “It feels weird!”
I laughed as I continued to pet her. “You’re just going to have to get used to it,” I said with a smirk.
Immediately I could tell that she very much thought about water gunning me, but thought better of it. Unfortunately, the decision she did make would not turn out in her favor either as she promptly tackled me. “Ack! You’re covered in slime!” she exclaimed, realizing far too late.
I laughed even harder as I put my arms around her. “And now, so are you.”
She tried to wiggle out of my grasp, eventually succeeding due to the consistency of the slime. “Ugh…” She grumbled as she tried to scrape off the slime. “That feels weird…”
Sliggoo made a few annoyed noises, since she had been squished between us in Primarina’s attempted tackling. “Rude. Papa and I were having a moment,” the little slug huffed.
That brought a big smile to my face. I wasn’t sure what it was about being referred to like that that made me so happy, but it really did. “I just wanted papa to praise me,” Primarina complained. “And instead he rubbed your slime into my hair!”
I still had a big smile on my face as I stood back up. “C’mon, let’s go wash up,” I suggested, and we all made our way over to the artificial pond.
It was a fairly nice feature, and actually looked fairly natural. I honestly would have assumed it was if we weren’t in a building, and I could clearly see the pipe that was feeding the artificial waterfall.
The first thing I did was start to clean the slime from my bag, before promptly getting drenched as Primarina cannonballed into the water. I huffed a bit, watching as she giggled and swam away before I could say anything. I just decided that it was fair revenge for putting slime in her hair.
Sliggoo decided to explore the bank of the pond, making her way off towards the waterfall.
I got out a few of the supplies that I used for bathing when out in the woods, and began washing off the slime and sweat from the day. I was still a bit self conscious about bathing in front of Pokemon. Not because there was any reason, because they seemed completely nonplussed by it, but it was still a bit uncomfortable being watched.
Thankfully I wasn’t the only one. Dee was even more shy about it. Scoly was the complete opposite, and practically demanded assistance. Which honestly was fair, considering that she was a bug without hands. Usually Cara or Dee helped me scrub the bug's shell, or the two of them did it on their own if I was occupied.
It was a good thing that Sliggoo had only slimed my shirt. I would have been extremely self conscious if I had to also wash my pants.
After that was done, I returned to watching the training. It took a long time for anyone else to finish, but eventually Dee collapsed across the line. I tried to tell her she’d done a good job, but she just glared at me and complained that I was the reason that everything hurt. I just chuckled because she wasn’t wrong.
Eventually the others finished as well, all of them tired and battered. Dee hadn’t moved from her spot on the ground, and I was fairly certain that she had fallen asleep. It was getting quite late, after all.
I had Rio and Cara drag Dee over to the pond so that they could all clean up before bed. They just tossed her on Scoly as they all went off to wash.
While they all did that I went over to the fort that I had made. I wasn’t going to set up the tent right now, so I shifted the table to be leaning on its side and pulled out the rest of the pillows and blankets, setting up a sort of nest.
Satisfied with that, I went and retrieved Eevee, Mikyu, and Essy, bringing them over to the pile. I set the three down before flopping into the mess of it all and let out a deep sigh. There were quite a few of the wolf pack watching me curiously, but none of them approached. Eventually, everyone else returned. Although Diancie had decided she’d rather float around the room and do… whatever it was that she did. The mythic was still quite a mystery to me.
Another mystery I had on my hands is where Banette went. I was fairly certain that she finished her laps, but once she had finished, she’d gone off somewhere. As I was getting comfortable, I was startled as she crawled out from somewhere in the mess of blankets before settling on top of me. Such a sneaky little thing. Her and Mikyu were…talking, or communicating I think, as the two of them sort of leaned against each other. Or maybe they were just leaning against each other, I couldn’t be sure.
Eventually everyone came over and settled down around me, and it felt like the stress of the day was all gone. Pokemon quickly started to drift off to sleep on or around me, and Diancie came over to lay down, grasping my hand to let me know that she was done for the day.
“Today was a lot,” Cara mumbled into my shoulder.
I smiled a bit, wanting to give her some reassuring pets, but both of my hands were occupied. Curse my genetics for only having two arms. “Yeah,” I said softly. “But I think it went well.”
She pressed her face harder into my shoulder. “We’re going to get them, aren’t we? Team Flare… I want to get them.”
My smile widened a bit. This silly dog was so obsessed with revenge. “If they want to… I wouldn’t be against knocking Lysandre down a peg, or ten.”
Chapter 22
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
Chapter Text
Waking up to the vision of a strange sky was disorientating. And that feeling got worse when I could parse that it was actually just a fake ceiling, painted to look like this sky. It was pretty, but the artist definitely took some liberties in what a sky should look like. There was just something off about it that I hadn’t noticed before, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
After blinking a few times to get rid of the sleep, I realized it was the colors and wavy way it was displayed, and then I realized what it was. It was done from the perspective of being underwater. That was very impressive. I wondered who had not only had the idea for that, but the skill to do it. Maybe I’d ask Valerie if I remembered.
Shifting a bit, I looked more at the pile to see who was still on top of me. Mikyu, Banette, and Sliggoo were piled on my stomach. Although I could barely see them over the top of Primarina’s head. Everyone else seemed to have gone off, which meant that Primarina had probably been woken up by Scoly and adjusted rather than getting up.
I reached up to gently stroke her hair. A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth as she shifted, and I heard her mumble a soft, “Papa…”
That easily brought a smile to my face. I still wasn’t used to the thought that I essentially had a bunch of children now, but it was nice. “Are you gonna let me up?” I asked softly.
She made a sort of thoughtful noise for a moment. “No.”
I snorted, continuing to pet her. This was probably her way of showing that she was upset that I hadn’t been giving her enough attention. That had been the unfortunate case lately. A lot of things were happening in rapid succession, and I wasn’t giving any them enough attention. Probably why they’d been rather rowdy the day prior. Or maybe they were just restless? There was a ton of tension still lingering in the area.
Or at least that’s what I thought before I looked over towards the tables. I was absolutely stunned for a moment, my brain trying to process what I was seeing. And the second that I figured it out, I burst into laughter.
Pokebeans were scattered everywhere.
Quite a few Pokemon were flopped over, clearly having overstuffed themselves and simply fallen over where they stood, Dee fretting over them. Those that were still upright were sprinting around nearby. It seemed Rio, Keo, and Scoly had somehow asserted themselves as some sort of leader amongst the younger pups, and they were happily chasing after them.
Once I had gotten my laughter settled, I lifted Primarina off of me. She let out a few noises of annoyance, before I stopped, holding her mostly aloft. Was she always this light? Wait, was I always this strong?
The little group on my stomach realized that I was getting up and quickly hopped off of my stomach, but I was so caught off guard that I didn’t move for a moment. I wasn’t actually expecting to be able to lift the seal. She gave me a rather perplexed look, staring down at me and probably wondering why I was just holding her up.
With a bit of difficulty, I got up and just straight up lifted her off the ground, which got quite a loud noise of surprise out of her. Now that I had her in a princess carry, I could more accurately gauge my strength. Primarina was about one hundred pounds, a bit more if I had to guess. And while she wasn’t exactly light, she certainly wasn’t very difficult to carry.
She put a flipper around my shoulder to help steady herself, her face red. “What are you doing?” she grumbled at me.
There was a smirk on my face as I started to walk towards my bag, which had mysteriously appeared on the table. “Oh, well you seemed a bit touch starved, so I decided I’d indulge my favorite wet dog.”
She let out quite the indignant huff, a few bubbles escaping her mouth as she did, but she didn’t complain further.
When I finally reached my bag, I took note of the little passed out feline atop a throne of beans, her belly bulging slightly. Essy looked to be in both a state of bliss, and discomfort. Clearly having eaten far too many beans, but having enjoyed it too much to really care. “Bean gremlin,” I muttered.
“I tried to dissuade them,” Cara said, suddenly standing beside me.
I looked at her for a moment. “Uhuh…” Quite unceremoniously, I tossed Primarina up over my shoulder, now carrying her like a sack of potatoes. She made quite a few disgruntled noises, and slapped my legs lightly with her flippers to show her distress. I ignored her, and instead reached forward, plucking a small crumb of pokebean from the corner of Cara’s mouth.
Her perplexed expression soon melted into one of horror as she realized what I was now holding in front of her. “I… uhm…”
Without letting her finish, I shoved the little piece into her mouth. That caused her entire face to flush red. “How many beans have you eaten?”
She stammered for a moment, trying to form a cohesive sentence, before managing to get out an embarrassed, “Three…”
I just shook my head, ignoring the grumblings and slaps I was receiving from an irate seal as I checked the bean bag. To my surprise, there were still quite a lot in there. “How many did Burnet give me?” I mumbled.
I’d already gone through so many, but even with what was probably a few hundred eaten, and hundreds more scattered about, there were still so many in the bag. Had she given me a few thousand, or something? She must have. The bag probably had an extremely high capacity and she seems to have filled it.
Which again raised my curiosity. I picked one of the beans up off of the table and after a moment took a bite. Immediately I understood. It was… so good. A burst of flavors in my mouth that I could hardly describe at first. A sort of delicious tangy sweet that almost made me think of… barbecue sauce? Really, really, really good barbecue sauce. But there was also something more: chocolate. It had the same texture and crunch, a bit like biting into a high quality chocolate bar. It didn’t melt in your mouth like one, but there was definitely a hint of chocolate.
“So… To sum up, pokebeans are like a darker chocolate covered in barbecue sauce, with the crunchy texture you would expect from something like an apple,” I mused to myself, taking another bite of the bean. “But better.”
Cara gave me a puzzled look, watching as I ate the bean.
Looking over at her, she quickly shied away from my gaze, her face still red. “What do these taste like to you?” I asked.
She had a puzzled expression again. “Uhm? I dunno. I’ve never had anything comparable… They’re… Kinda sweet? But they’re also… mmm… Tangy?” She made a few more noises, unable to really put it into words.
“Have you ever had barbecue sauce?”
Her brow furrowed as she stared at me, her ears twitching. I wasn’t sure if I had ever seen her thinking this hard, but it was cute how her ears fidgeted as she thought. “No?”
I nodded, taking another bite of the bean. Now that I was thinking about it… had I seen barbeque sauce at the Pokemart? There had been spices and I knew ketchup existed, since Ash’s Pikachu had been absolutely obsessed with it for a bit. But that was also in the episode Ash had a gun pointed at him. I hadn’t seen any firearms since arriving… I had too many questions, although when thinking about who I could ask I realized something. “Have you seen my phone?” I suddenly asked, changing the subject. I couldn’t remember where it had gone after my phone call with Farm Joy.
Cara blinked at me, her eyes going to my bag. “I think it’s in your bag?”
“Thank you,” I said as I looked through the pockets, finding it after a moment. I hesitated for a moment as I noted the time. It was almost ten. “Damn I overslept again… I’ve been sleeping in a lot lately.”
“We’ve all been tired,” Primarina said from somewhere behind me. “You especially.”
I sighed softly and looked over at Dee, who was nearby scolding one of the many dogs about over indulging, and how they needed to pace themselves when eating. It looked like she had been at that for a while now. “Dee?”
She looked over, tilting her head. “Yes?”
A smile crept onto my face. “We’re gonna go to the Pokecenter real quick so you can get a full checkup before your battle.”
There was a bit of a frown on her face before she nodded, taking a deep breath. “Okay.”
“Has everyone had their pokeblocks?” I asked as I flipped Primarina back into a princess carry, which got another noise of alarm out of her.
She started to lightly slap at my chest. “Stop flipping me around!” she complained.
I laughed, and did a twirl, using her tail to slap Cara as I did. The look of utter indignation the blue canine gave me was even funnier. She was clearly going to complain at me before I shoved Primarina onto her, causing the two to topple over. “Hey!” Cara exclaimed.
“Rude!” Primarina added, but it wasn’t long before the two of them were laughing.
Trying to shake off this tense and uncomfortable funk was difficult, but messing around with everyone definitely made me feel better and lifted the mood.
Dee just looked baffled at the interaction, but she was also clearly amused. “I think everyone has?” She answered my previous question.
“Good. Come on.” I gently rubbed her head. “We can even spend some time at the Pokecenter.”
That got an even bigger smile on her face. “Okay.”
“Cara,” I turned to watch the struggling dog. I knew she had the physical strength to lift Primarina, but the seal was not about to make it easy for her, squirming and pushing at her in order to sabotage her attempts to get up. There was a moment where I thought about changing who I was about to leave in charge, but everyone else was either liable to cause more problems, or passed out. “Keep everyone in here, and try to keep them from burning the building down, okay?”
She looked up at me, an exaggerated look of betrayal on her face. “Help?” she asked, gesturing at Primarina.
“Good luck,” I said as I pulled on my coat. “Let’s go, Dee.” I grabbed my bag as I made my way towards the door.
“Help?!” Cara called out, a bit more concern in her voice as she started wrestling the seal.
Dee looked conflicted, but quickly waddled after me as I held the door open for her. She went out first, and I looked back to the two on the ground. “Alright, Primarina,” I called out. “Let her up.”
Both of them looked over at me, and the large seal huffed exaggeratedly as she rolled off of Cara. I gave a bit of a nod and let the door close.
Getting out of the gym was actually pretty easy since there were a lot of signs, but I worried I was going to struggle to find that room again. Dee walked beside me as we went, and she seemed… worried. Hesitant maybe?
Looking at her out of the corner of my eye, I watched how she kept glancing towards me, and then back forward. It took a few glances before I noticed that she was looking at my hand. So I reached down, and grasped her hand. She tensed for a brief moment when I grabbed it, but then relaxed and seemed to smile a bit more.
“You don’t have to be nervous,” I said, squeezing her hand a bit.
She sighed, though she chose not to say anything until we were properly outside of the gym. The receptionist seemed very confused to see me exit, but the two of us just waved.
Once out on the street, Dee spoke up, “I can’t help it…”
“I know. I’m just letting you know you don’t have to be.” I could feel her grip tighten.
“But I am… And I… Arceus, I’m so nervous that I was about to beg that you hold my hand,” she said with a tired tone. “I used to do this with my children all the time, but now I’m on the other side.”
I nearly stumbled a bit when she said that, because I had completely forgotten that she had children. I have no idea how I forgot that, since it had been her children who had asked me to help her. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting a bit of comfort,” I said with a smile down at her. “If you want to hold my hand, or need a hug, I’m not going to say no.”
She let out a slow breath. “I think I need a hug…” she muttered.
Without any further prompting I knelt down, wrapping my arms around her. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as she pressed into me. I rubbed her back as I simply let her decompress. It was pretty clear to me that she was stressing herself out.
After a few minutes she started to pull away and I loosened my hug so that she could. “Better?”
She didn’t give a verbal response, just nodding before grasping my hand again.
I smiled at her as we continued walking. And it wasn’t much longer before we reached the Pokecenter. It was empty, aside from the Nurse Joy behind the counter.
“Hello, welcome. How can I help you?” she asked, giving me a smile. However I immediately noticed it didn’t reach her eyes. There was a faint darkness under her eyes, and they were a bit puffy.
“Are you alright, Joy?” I asked as we came up to the counter.
Her smile faltered for a split second, before reasserting itself. “Yes. I’m quite alright, just-” she hesitated, “Some difficult news.”
“About the sticker system?” I guessed.
Her smile faltered again as she looked a bit puzzled at me, and then seemed to notice Dee for the first time. “Ah. You’re-” her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat, her smile was gone and her expression was now rather sad. “You’re Jason. Right… Yeah.” Her voice had gone a lot softer now and she was staring at the table in front of her rather than at me.
“Would you like to talk about it?” I asked softly.
Her gaze flicked up at me before she took a deep, shaky breath. “Do you mind?” she asked, gesturing behind her to the door.
“Not at all,” I said as I rounded the desk, Dee practically pulling me along.
While I had been through this door before, I had been a lot deeper and hadn’t gone into the small side room. It was a small sitting room just inside, probably where Joy’s took brief rests when they weren’t actively doing something. Just a little place to relax while they waited for Trainers. There was even a little screen that displayed the Pokecenter’s entrance.
She sat down in one of the plush seats, and I sat down nearby. “I… I just…” She went quiet for a moment. “We received the new procedure last night,” she began, her voice quite low. “A lot of Joy’s have been put on leave for their mental health.” She swallowed. “Especially those in the older crowds.”
I remained quiet as she spoke, but reached out my free hand towards her. She glanced at it, seeing Dee holding onto my other and realized what I was offering.
To my surprise, she took it quickly, clearly needing some sort of physical affirmation at this moment. She had one hell of a grip. “I just feel so lost… And I keep asking myself… How many?” Tears were welling up in her eyes, but she was apparently refusing to let them fall right now. “How many did I kill? How many did we all kill? How many are suffering… because they know… they’ll be put down?”
Now the tears were starting to fall and I squeezed her hand.
“And I can’t stop crying,” she mumbled, using her other hand to wipe her face. “None of us wanted to do it…”
“I know,” I said softly.
“It was all just stupid procedure. And procedure is what saves lives. That’s what we’re taught. Six years of schooling.” She was still wiping at her face. “And they fucking lied. They said it gets easier. And it doesn’t. It doesn’t get easier. Every time I had to do it I felt like I was carving off a part of myself.”
I had to let go of Dee’s hand in order to grab hold of Joy’s other hand to stop her from rubbing at her face like that. She was going to cause problems with how hard she was rubbing, as if she could scrub the tears out of her face. What little makeup she had on was now completely smeared and ruined. “Hey, hey…” I said softly. “Breathe with me.”
I started to take in slow breaths, holding them for a few seconds before letting them out slowly, holding it out, and then repeating. To help focus on me and the timing I moved her hands in a matching rhythm.
It took several minutes for her to calm back down, and I patiently continued the breathing pattern until I was sure she had. “Better?” I asked softly.
She looked at me, and then let out a breathy sort of laugh. “You’re really good at this sort of thing,” she mumbled, pulling one of her hands free to grab some nearby tissues and wipe her face. “Are…” She seemed hesitant to ask, but after taking a deep breath, she continued, “Are those Pokemon okay?”
“Yes,” I said with a nod. “Some of them are in better shape mentally than others… But overall, they’re all okay.”
She took in a shaky breath before nodding. “Can… Can I see them?”
A smile pulled a bit at the corner of my mouth. “They’re currently residing in Valerie’s gym. I decided that part of their recovery is allowing them a lot of time out of their pokeball to make them comfortable and reassure them that they’re okay.”
“You just… Left them alone?” she questioned, concern clearly in her tone.
“My other Pokemon are there, aside from Dee. Valerie and I have a battle today, and I wanted Dee at one hundred percent before.” She looked over at the pink Pokemon who gave her a smile and took her other hand.
She looked at Dee for a moment before smiling. “Right. Right…” She took a few more deep breaths. “Right. Okay. Let’s make sure you’re all tip top.”
For the first time, I was actually allowed to watch the full process. I had to hand over Dee’s pokeball, which made sense, and Joy returned her to it. She placed it into a rather large and odd machine. It was reminiscent of what I’d seen in the anime, with an odd sort of table with divots in it. However it was enclosed.
Joy closed the lid, and took a seat at a computer that was attached to the machine. The lights of the room dimmed and the table glowed. I couldn’t even make out what was being displayed as code flooded the screen like in some sort of cheesy hacker movie. It was another reminder of just how absurd some of the technology was in this world. I was literally looking at what Dee was made of.
“Does this work on humans?” I asked softly, trying to catch even the slightest details. I did notice that while most of the text was green on a black background, some sections of code were different colors. Blue and red were all I could really catch.
“Technically it could?” she replied, typing away. “If a pokeball was capable of capturing a human, then it could in theory. Although, technically that is possible… if extremely unethical.”
I blinked at her. “Humans can be caught in pokeballs?”
“A Masterball, yeah. They’re extremely powerful, and the only thing capable of forcefully capturing and controlling a true Legendary.” I noticed that she was focusing on the red lines, and… rewriting them? She was literally overwriting injuries?
“That’s pretty terrifying…”
She giggled a bit. “Well, you’ve nothing to worry about. No one would waste a Masterball on capturing a human. They cost billions, and there’s only a few in circulation. Well, I can’t even say circulation as they’re all occupied. At least, all the ones we Joy's are aware of.”
And I broke one. The Yellow clan probably hated my entire being. “And you’re just able to… rewrite this code?”
“Mmm pretty much…” She made a sort of thoughtful noise. “Although it’s more like… influencing the code? It’s difficult to explain… And it wasn’t really something I paid too much attention to during my schooling.”
I snorted. “No, I get that. It’s hard to remember everything you learned in school. But it is strangely fascinating…”
She nodded. “Pokeballs are an interesting sort of technology. They’ve advanced and changed so much throughout the centuries. The technology of making the original pokeballs was lost a long time ago. All we know is it had something to do with spacial storage, and suspended animation. Nowadays, Pokemon are digitized into data, and-” she paused. “I’m surprised you don’t know this?”
With a chuckle, I rubbed the back of my neck. “Not my area of study. While I think it’s fascinating, I’ve never really needed to know this stuff?” All of this sounded like some weird sci-fi nonsense. But then again, I was literally carrying some sort of high tech spacial bag that, as far as I understood, folded space to create some sort of large area. It sounded like straight up magic…
“Yeah. Okay. Fair.” Her fingers were flying across the odd keyboard. It wasn’t qwerty, and had a lot of symbols that I didn’t recognize. “I guess the only reason I really know as much as I do is the Pokeball Factory is just up north and a lot of those sciency guys come in a lot.”
That’s right… that was close by. Maybe I could get a tour of the building? But I wanted to get back to the part that interested me. “Okay, so you’re influencing the code. How much can you do?”
“Honestly quite a bit, but not that much in the grand scheme…” She sighed a bit. “We can help the healing process a lot, and make it more efficient. Remove scrapes, cuts, and bruises. Turn broken bones into fractures. More severe external injuries require actual sprays, and maybe some surgery if they’re super bad. Then we can put them back in the machine and heal that up. More internal things are difficult, like we can't completely heal fractures, or missing organs. But we can heal damage to the internals. We also can't restore missing limbs.”
Part of her explanation stuck with me. How in the hell did I forget about potion sprays? Why am I just remembering those exist right now? Hello? Knowledge? Is that not part of whatever nonsense power I have? I sighed heavily, shaking my head. “I need to remember to pick up some sprays when I go shopping.”
Joy nodded before seeming to be done with whatever she was doing and the screen went blank as the lights came back on. “They’re good to have on hand,” she said as she wheeled her chair over to the case and lifted the lid. She released Dee before handing me the pokeball. “Well, she is in extremely good shape. She doesn’t have any current injuries, but she shows a lot of signs of previously healed muscle strain.”
Dee fidgeted. “It’s not that bad…” she muttered.
I rubbed her head, smiling. “She trains hard. Probably harder than any of my other Pokemon, if I’m to be honest.”
Joy nodded. “It’s not bad, and it seems like you’re pacing her well in her training.” She hesitated for a moment, glancing between the two of us. “I’ve honestly never seen an Audino with that amount of muscles.”
The Pokemon in question went red and I rubbed her head more. “She practically lives in training weights, so I’m not surprised.”
The nurse nodded. “That would do it… What does she usually have?”
“She’s maxed out the one hundred pounds one we have, so we need to get the more advanced one.” While I wasn’t sure if Dee had truly gotten used to the maxed out weight, it was good to start looking at the more advanced ones anyways. Then I’d have to see who wanted to wear the old one.
Joy gaped for a moment before regaining her composure. “That… That would definitely do it.” She glanced between the two of us again. “Anyways… Her diet is very good. Like, immensely good. I have to ask, who do you go to for nutritional advice?”
“Ah- uh…” I hesitated. It looked like Joy was about to say something before I spoke, “I do all that. I make customized pokeblocks for all of my Pokemon, and make sure they have all of their dietary needs met.”
Again she gaped for a moment, but recovered quicker this time. “I… I see. Well, you are the Pokemon Expert I guess.”
I chuckled a bit, and nodded. “Pokemon are my area of expertise,” I agreed.
She smiled at that, though it didn’t last for long. “Can I… Can I ask you about… About the things? With the… stickers?”
“Of course,” I said with a nod.
Joy took several deep breaths, clearly trying to calm herself. “What do I do? I mean, I read the memo, got the basic instructions, but… But I just need to hear it…”
“The first thing you need to do is reassure. They are not being put down, and they need to be told that,” I started, and then spent the next hour explaining how to go about things. What to avoid saying, what to do in certain extreme scenarios. Finally I ended with what I thought was the most important point, “And they are not being put down. You need to completely put that option out of your head. That’s the mindset you need. The only time any of them should ever be put down is if they’re suffering and can’t be saved. And even then, it should be their choice.”
She was a bit teary eyed again, but nodded. “Okay. I’m… I’m going to be talking about this with as many Joy’s as I can. That’s alright, right?”
I smiled. “Please do.”
I didn’t think there was much left to talk with Joy about. Until she started asking me more about therapy, and psychology. We fell into a discussion on how to deal with trauma, followed by explaining the varied reactions from the wolf pack and how they were soothed. Then she asked something that really surprised me. “Can I… have some of them?”
That got me to pause and think. While I had considered it, turning members of the wolf pack into therapy dogs to help soothe others that are rescued seemed like a long term goal. It was going to be incredibly difficult. “Are you sure?”
She didn’t respond verbally and just nodded.
“It wouldn’t be easy. Not at all,” I started slowly. “They are traumatized. They’re untrusting, and might act aggressive. They might even lash out at you.”
Again she nodded, taking a deep breath. “I… I just have to… I have to help them. We need to have a better program and I’m willing to do the work.”
I looked at her for a moment. Her makeup was still smudged and she had a pained expression, but… she seemed sincere. “I’ll talk with them about it. And if any of them agree, there are going to be a lot of things I’ll have to explain. Rules. Restrictions. Do’s and don'ts.”
“Right. Yeah. Okay. I can do that. I can… Even if it’s going to be extremely difficult and a lot of work, this will be for the best,” she said as she sat up a bit straighter. “I’m a professional, and this should be part of my job.”
A smile pulled a bit at the corner of my mouth and I nodded. “Alright. Just don’t feel bad if none of them want to come,” I said as I fished around a moment in my pocket to pull out my phone. While I had the device out, I checked the time and found I still had thirty minutes until the battle. “Okay, give me your number so I can text you about it.” I held the phone out to her, more of a smile on my face.
Joy returned my smile and took my phone, quickly adding herself to my contacts before handing it back. I glanced at the contact and noted her name was Evelyne Joy. “I’ll discuss it with the other Joy’s stationed here, but I’m sure they’d all be willing to help out.”
I nodded. “Good. You’ll probably also have Valerie’s help, considering she seems invested in the dogs.”
That got a bit of a giggle from her before she stood up. “Right. Let me see you out.”
Dee was quiet as we left the Pokecenter, but she did grab hold of my hand once we were outside. I started to walk back towards the gym, but was unable to get very far. She didn’t seem entirely ready to start walking, and held me there. It was at that moment that I realized I wasn’t going anywhere unless she let me.
Her grip wasn’t tight, but it was firm, her expression rather blank. Although her brow was furrowed, like she was thinking about something but unsure how to feel about her own thoughts. “Would Flare attack this Pokecenter if they had some of their dogs?” she asked suddenly, looking up at me.
I reached up and started to rub the top of her head. “Maybe. But I don’t think so,” I said softly, giving her a big smile. “Especially not after we’re done with them.”
She tilted her head to the side, both in confusion and also to lean more into my touch. “What are we going to do?”
“Well, since a lot of the wolf pack seems rather set on a revenge path, that I’m sure Cara is encouraging, we’re going to put as big a dent in the organization that we can.” I crouched down a bit in order to be eye to eye with her. “And that means a lot more Pokemon. And while I love those fluff balls of trauma, I’m not going to be able to do much more on my own. So we’re going to be taking a bit of a risk at the start.”
Her expression became a bit more sour as I explained that, but after a moment she nodded. “It’s necessary…” she mumbled.
“It is,” I agreed with a nod.
I expected that to be enough, but she still refused to move. “So… we’re going after them?”
I smiled at her and nodded. “Yes.” I stood up straight, looking down at her. After squeezing her hand, I asked, “Now, are you ready?”
She stared at me for a moment, her brow furrowing. “Now? We’re going after them now?”
A snort escaped me and I shook my head. “No.” I rubbed her head a bit hard. “For your battle.”
She continued to stare at me for a moment longer before it seemed like she suddenly realized what I meant and her eyes widened a bit. “I- what- wait. Oh…” Her face turned from pink and cream to red. “I forgot about that…”
Watching Pokemon blush was actually quite interesting. While I hadn’t given it much thought, as I was smiling down at Dee I took a bit more notice of it. The blush itself was like a slight haze that tinged their face. On a person it was caused by blood rushing to the face. Maybe it was some sort of energy acting like the same? That would suggest that a Pokemon’s energy was stored in their blood, which made sense. I should ask a Nurse Joy about it. Or maybe I could ask Dee?
“Wh-why are you looking at me like that?” Dee mumbled, trying not to make eye contact.
“You’re blushing quite a bit,” I said with a bit of a smirk.
That just made her turn even more red and she let go of my hand to cover her face. “And?” She sounded both exhausted and offended that I would bring it up.
I rubbed her head. “Just curious how it worked, considering your face is furred. And Scoly has her exoskeleton, but I’ve seen her blush as well.”
Her face had lost a lot it’s blush now as her hands slowly dropped down, her face scrunched up in thought. “Well, energy and blood have a lot of similarities, and travel through the same channels.”
“So energy flows through the veins?” I questioned, now quite interested in the subject.
“Sort of? It’s more like energy flows along the actual vein, while blood flows inside it,” she explained.
“Fascinating.” I had managed to coax her into walking as we talked now that she had something to focus on. Sometimes I forget that she was trained to be a nurse and worked as one for a time. Although I wasn’t entirely sure how long she did, since that was a very sensitive topic. But it was nice to see that she was enthusiastic about it. “So as energy control increases, and becomes more powerful, what happens to the veins and arteries?”
“Research about that is actually pretty inconclusive, because it seems to vary depending on Pokemon species category. Canine Pokemon tend to end up with veins that have increased in density more than anything else. However, bipedal Pokemon have tougher veins. And then bipedal canine Pokemon have more of a balance.” It was obvious she was bringing this up because of Cara and Rio. “And then most insect Pokemon, that have an exoskeleton like Scoly, have tough veins but also more. And some veins don’t even carry blood, and are just used for energy.”
“That partially explains why Pokemon get tougher as they get better at using energy,” I mused. The energy is physically conditioning their body and increasing how tough they are, down to their veins.
She nodded. “Yes. It’s honestly an interesting field of study, though I didn’t really do more than dip a few toes in,” she said, giggling at her own little joke.
“Well it’s more than I knew.” I smiled down at her, rubbing the top of her head again.
We paused outside of the gym, and I looked at her for a moment. She had stopped, looking up at the tree that the gym was built in front of. I could practically see the way her nerves unraveled. She was scared, but I wasn’t sure if it was more of the fight or of losing.
“You’ll do great,” I said softly, placing a hand on her back and giving her a little push.
The lobby had quite a few more people in it this time, including Valerie. “There you are!” she called out before jogging over.
I raised an eyebrow. “Yes? I wanted to make sure Dee was in top shape before the battle and went to the Pokecenter. Got a bit distracted talking with Joy.”
She huffed. “I went to the training room looking for you and got worried when there were only Pokemon,” she complained before slapping me with one of her costume wings. “Come on.” Immediately she turned and started walking.
Quickly I followed after her, chuckling a bit. “Sorry. I can imagine that was a bit worrying. But I wasn’t expecting to take that long. I’m still early for our battle.”
Again she let out a sort of huff, but this time it sounded like more of a laugh. “I guess. But I don’t know if you can imagine how it felt to open the door and call out for you, only to get stared at by a few dozen Pokemon?” Her entire costume shuddered a bit. “It was terrifying. They all were looking at me like I was intruding. In my own building.”
“They’ve probably associated the space as a safe place, and you’re mostly a stranger to them,” I explained. “So they probably did think that. I’ll have to properly introduce you to them later so they understand that you’re safe.”
“Safe?” She questioned as we entered a massive room. It was like a mixture of a zen garden and martial arts arena. Four large bridges crossed sand rivers and that led to the center arena. It was almost completely identical to the one from the anime, the big difference is that on the upper platform there were rows of seating, and much to my surprise, a few dozen people in the audience.
“They’ve been through a lot, and most of them are very untrusting.” I glanced around, seeing the cameras and the people look over towards us. “We’ll talk more after.”
While I made my way across the arena, Dee following behind, I nearly tripped when I heard a very familiar voice. “This is an official gym battle between the Gym Leader Valerie, and the Pokemon Expert Jason,” the referee announced, pointing out both sides. The same referee. The same exact referee. “One on one. I or the Trainer will determine if a Pokemon is unable to continue battling. Expert and Gym Leader have already decided on their chosen Pokemon.”
Okay that was literally the same referee. Or maybe they were like the Joy’s and Jenny’s? Was there a clan of Referees? Not something that I can focus on right now.
I turned, standing in the Trainer position, Dee stood just on the other side of the line in the arena, wringing her hands nervously. On the other side, Valerie had already released Ren, the Sylveon looking ready to go. I could hear some of the audience voice their confusion. This was known as a high level gym, so one on ones were definitely not the norm. And the fact that we had discussed which Pokemon was probably even weirder.
Although a lot of the confusion was at Dee and her appearance. While I hardly noticed them anymore, a lot of her scars were fairly visible. Plus, Audino’s weren’t known to be battling Pokemon. Just wait until I find a piece of Audinite.
“Ready?” The referee called.
“Ready!” Valerie announced, doing a sort of cutesy pose with her wings outstretched and a leg raised like some kind of magical girl pose. I couldn’t imagine doing something like that, especially on camera, but the audience seemed to love it judging by their cheers.
A bit of a smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “Ready,” I said with a nod.
The referee glanced at the both of us as he raised his hand. “Begin!” he shouted as he dropped the hand.
Dee immediately locked up from the shout, and the Sylveon immediately took advantage of the hesitation, clearly taking my prior warning seriously. He rushed forward, ribbons launching forward and wrapping around Dee. But then he froze. His face scrunched in concentration, the ribbons glowing white.
He was trying to lift her, but was finding he couldn’t. So instead he pulled himself forward, slamming into her at full force, causing her to stagger back. The spots where the paws hit had a soft white glow to them, evidence of the attack used.
But Dee just stood there.
“Dee,” I said softly. She looked back slightly at me, her expression one of confusion. Like she was lost. I didn’t want to resort to yelling at her again, so I needed to think of something else. “The only way I’m going to be disappointed with you over the outcome of this battle, is if you don’t fight back.”
She nodded before turning back, She only hesitated a few more seconds before actually running at Ren. His eyes widened a bit and he leapt out of the way as Dee’s glowing fist slammed into the area he was in.
And the ground exploded.
Mega Punch, if I had to guess. It was one of the harder hitting moves that she knew, and was actually confident in using.
The audience had gone silent at the show of strength, and the only noise for a moment was the sound of bits of the arena clattering against things.
Ren’s mouth hung open as he gaped for that moment, his eyes darting from the new hole, to Dee, to me, and then back. Now he was definitely going to take this seriously.
When Dee looked up towards him, he leapt backwards, little sparks of energy appearing around him and launching at his opponent. The little stars slammed into Dee, but she hardly seemed to notice as she kept her focus. The pink energy of psychic removed any marks left by previous attacks.
This didn’t go unnoticed by the canine as he continued to fire the little sparky stars at her as she tried to close the distance. But he wasn’t letting her, using the clear advantage of his speed to keep distance.
That was just annoying her, and she took a page out of Diancie’s book, slamming her foot down suddenly and causing cracks to form. In a swift motion she dug her fingers into a crack and hefted a chunk of the arena floor up. It was almost twice her size and she pitched it with the practiced aim of someone who had spent literal days throwing rocks.
While it certainly caught Ren off guard, he was able to easily leap out of the way. However Dee hadn’t remained stationary after throwing it. She had used it as cover as she ran forward. His eyes went wide for a moment before she twisted and slammed her little foot into his side. Mega Kick wasn’t something she had a lot of practice in, because her legs were so small she said it was difficult.
Of course that didn’t really matter and the move sent Ren careening into the wall. The bang he made was so loud that I swore it shook the building. It took a moment for the dust to settle, and when it did we all could see as he used his ribbons to pull himself from the crater. He was scuffed up, for sure, but honestly didn’t look that much worse for wear.
Suddenly he slammed into Dee, having practically shot himself from his point and into her. She staggered a bit from the Quick Attack, and attempted to retaliate with another punch, but he used her as a springboard to make distance again.
I made a mental note that I needed Dee to practice some ranged moves as they fell back into the same routine of him using Swift while she tried to close the distance. She tried the rock throw again, but he wasn’t going to fall for the same trick. In fact, it occurred to me that Dee hardly knew any moves. She didn’t grow up battling, so she didn’t learn many. That was definitely a mistake on my part.
“Focus on hitting him instead of distracting,” I called. Immediately she switched to throwing smaller rocks at my prompting, returning fire in response to the Swift’s the Sylveon was sending at her. But she wasn’t even using rock energy when throwing the stones, which was making it easier for Ren to dodge. Her hands were glowing white with the normal attuned energy in order to lift and throw them so easily, but that was only helping her throw, not hit.
Valerie seemed to be getting concerned, as a lot of the rocks were pretty close to hitting, and Dee was just healing through every hit that she took. It was a battle of attrition; who had more energy, and Ren was already at a disadvantage because while the nurse Pokemon had taken more hits, the Sylveon was the one with damage.
And the canine was getting tired from the constant dodging. Some of the rocks were starting to clip him and it wouldn’t be long before Dee started hitting. “Ren, we need to lower her accuracy!”
That was the biggest mistake they could have possibly made, and I winced when Ren hit Dee with a Mud-Slap.
She froze, rock hefted in the air and prepped for throwing. There was an odd sort of tenseness in the air as the arena fell silent, the only noise was the rock hitting the ground as it slipped from her grasp. Again Ren tried to take advantage of her nonmoving state to grab her. I wasn’t sure what his goal was, but I’m sure he wasn’t expecting for his ribbons to be snatched out of the air.
Dee held the Sylveon’s ribbons with one hand, using the other to wipe some of the mud from her face. She looked absolutely furious. Ren was trying to pull his ribbons back, but that was only causing him to slide towards her, his little paws not being able to find enough purchase on the battered arena floor.
Then he saw her face, and his ears folded back, pupils dilating, as he realized his mistake too late.
Far too late.
She yanked his ribbons, pulling him forward, and pulling her fist back in one motion. “Why mud?!” she screamed as she slammed her fist into the rapidly approaching canine. Ren hit the ground hard enough to not only form a small crater, but bounce back up when the ground couldn’t give anymore from the force of the blow.
Of course Dee wasn’t done, grabbing the ribbons in both hands and twisting around to face the other way. With an overhead pull and swing, she slammed him into the ground.
I was more than a little surprised to see him slowly trying to get to his feet, only to get another Mega Kick to the side and be launched away. But he didn’t hit the wall this time as the ribbons hit their maximum extension in his dazed state. It was interesting that they only extended so far if he wasn’t concentrating on them. And Dee was making it impossible to concentrate.
She yanked him back, letting go of the ribbons and stuck out her arm, clotheslining him as he was going to fly past her. The move sent him spinning in the air, and he continued to spin for a moment after hitting the floor.
He staggered to his feet, head spinning from the blows and the aerial summersaults that he’d just been forced to perform.
But there was no way that Dee was about to let him regain his balance now that he was within range to grab. Her arms wrapped around his lower waist, and she threw herself back as she suplexed him into one of the craters she’d made.
She rolled over, coming back onto her feet. This time, before Ren even had a chance to get up, she reached down. One of her hands grabbed hold of his tail, while the other grabbed the scruff of his neck before she hefted him into the air. Her arms weren’t long enough to lift him over her head, but as her body shimmered and lit up into a burst of shining white energy with swirls of pink, I could tell this was going to hurt.
Suddenly she leapt several meters up into the air. Just at the peak of her jump she pitched him down at the ground, creating another crater next to one of the many others she had made. Then all of the energy that was swirling around her suddenly snapped to her fist, glowing brighter than anything I’d seen her do as of yet.
Was she mimicking Scoly’s Meteor Horn? She had combined her normal and psychic energy together into whatever this was. I guess I couldn’t say that Scoly was the only one in my group to combine moves now.
And apparently she’d named it. “Giga Psyshock!” she shouted as she came down.
The entire arena crackled with energy when she struck. I had to close my eyes from the brightness of the move, but when I managed to look, I could see Dee standing there, Ren in the crater. He had blocked it with his ribbons. Or at least tried to. That, and it looked like he had used Endure to prevent himself from being KO’d.
Dee was breathing hard, but so was he as the two stared at each other, unmoving. “I think that’s enough,” Valerie called out, sounding more than a little worried. Both Pokemon looked over at her, like they couldn’t believe what she was saying, although while Dee looked confused, Ren looked offended. “Ren can’t keep fighting,” she explained hurriedly.
It looked like the Sylveon in question wanted to argue, but as he jumped to his feet and opened his mouth to retort his eyes rolled back and he slumped to the ground. “Sylveon is unable to battle!” the referee called. “The winner is Pokemon Expert Jason!”
I flinched at the sudden noise from the crowd. I’d forgotten they were even there. They were… cheering? Well, most of them were cheering. Some of them were apparently booing, or complaining about the fight.
Walking over to Dee, I looked her over. She was staring down at Ren, clearly unsure of what just happened. “There’s an injured Pokemon,” I said as I put my hand on her shoulder. “Don’t you have another job to do?”
There was a moment as her brain seemed to reboot at my words and she suddenly jolted. “Right!” She moved to Ren and began to check him over, using her Heal Pulse to help him recover.
Valerie walked over, sighing. “I can see why you gave him a warning. If he had treated this battle like he usually did, she would have mopped the floor with him.”
I nodded. “This was confirmation of a theory I had.”
“Oh?” She looked at Dee, and then around at the crowd. “Is it… uh… something you want kept private?”
Following her gaze, I noticed that a lot of people were listening. I shook my head. “Nah, information should be shared.”
She giggled. “Well, you are a teacher,” she mused, sounding interested.
I smiled a bit. “Yes, well. Anyways, I had a theory that a Pokemon has to sort of circulate their energy to actually be able to fully utilize it. Because energy strengthens and toughens a Pokemon, if they are ready to use it they fight better. So a Pokemon who is ready for a battle and ready to do their best will be stronger and tougher than a Pokemon who isn’t taking the fight seriously. That’s what happened during my battle with Olympia. Her Pokemon weren’t prepared to fight with everything they had, and by the time they realized it was serious, they’d already taken a beating.”
“So… Ren did better because he was expecting a difficult fight?” Valerie asked, clearly interested. “That sounds like the Battle Focus Theory.”
Now it was my turn to be interested. “Battle Focus Theory?”
She nodded. “It’s a fairly old theory that says something similar. Pokemon fight better when they are focused on the battle.”
I nodded. “Yes, that sounds pretty similar.”
“And it is a confirmed thing that the more energy a Pokemon has the stronger they are,” Valerie added. “But I never really considered that circulating it before a fight would actually make them fight better.”
“I think that’s why my Pokemon have been seemingly better than anyone else they’ve faced. Most of their opponents aren’t expecting a difficult fight,” I explained.
She nodded. “That makes sense.” She suddenly straightened up. “Anyways. Pokemon Expert Jason, for beating me and proving that you are on a high level, I offer to you the Elite Fairy Badge,” she said as she retrieved the badge and held it out to me.
With a smile, I took it. “Thank you. It was a good fight.”
“I’m tired,” Dee complained.
“Everything hurts,” Ren added, now awake again.
Valerie giggled. “Well, you wanted a fight.”
I smiled a bit more. “Ah, right. I wanted to talk to you about some things, if you have time? And I’ll introduce you to the dogs.”
She smiled at me. “Of course. I’ve got some time before my next battle.”
Back in the training room turned dog shelter, Cara was in front of me the moment I entered the room. “You didn’t say you were going to be gone that long,” she scolded, checking me over as if she was expecting stab wounds.
“Sorry,” I said with a short laugh. “Got distracted by Joy. Speaking of which,” I turned to Valerie, who was looking at the wolf pack. They were a bit more tense than when it was just me, but me being there was thankfully a source of safety to them so they didn’t seem too distressed. “I spoke with one of the Joy’s, Evelyne, and she wants to help with recovered Pokemon. I wanted to know if you wanted to help as well?”
Valerie stared at me for a moment before a big smile came onto her face. “Of course! I’d love to help. What would I need to do?”
“Well, mostly it would be supplying space and food,” I admitted, which caused her excitement to deflate a bit. “But I’m sure Nurse Joy would love some assistance in actually helping with the actual Pokemon. Especially since you can talk to some of them.”
Her excitement returned and she nodded. “Yeah. I can do that.”
I nodded as I pulled out my phone, and texted Evelyne. ‘Hey, this is Jason. Just letting you know that Valerie wants to help out and is willing to offer space and financial support. I think that we can do a lot more than just let you have some of the dogs. Is it alright if I give her your number?’ I put my phone away, planning to wait for a reply.
Now there was something else to discuss. I smirked a bit, looking at Valerie out of the corner of my eye. “Now then… About our bet.”
Valerie jolted, trying to avoid looking in my direction. “Bet? What bet?”
I snorted. “Don’t give me that. I won. So you have to confess to this crush of yours.”
She squirmed uncomfortably. “I… but… I don’t even know what to say. How would I even do it?”
“Just send them a text, asking for a date,” I suggested with a wave of my hand.
She fumbled for a moment before pulling out her phone. I watched as she went to her contacts, and then just stared at it.
Before I had a chance to say anything, there was a soft ping from my phone. The noise caused Valerie to flinch slightly, but calm when she realized it wasn’t her phone. I pulled out mine and read the message. ‘Oh thats great! Fantastic! Wonderful! I have two other Joys that want to help, so were getting permission from the Elder. Knowing we have Valeries help is great and will make that so much easier.” The lack of apostrophes was a bit annoying, but I supposed everyone texts differently.
‘Great. I’ll give her your number.’ I replied and put my phone away again.
Looking over at Valerie, she was still staring at her phone. I sighed slightly, giving her a few minutes to work up the nerves. While she did mental gymnastics to try and send a simple text, I looked over at the wolf pack. There were still tons of beans scattered about, which was amusing, and they all seemed to have relaxed now that it was clear Valerie was fine.
It looked like a few of them wanted to come over and talk with me, but didn’t want to while the other human was there. So to make them more comfortable I stepped away from her to give her space.
Almost immediately Hate came up to me, with Malevolence right behind her. “We wish to make Team Flare suffer and rescue more of our fellows,” Hate said, a rather sadistic looking grin on her face.
I nodded. “I figured you’d want to. I’m working on setting up a proper system to help out your… fellows. There’s a few Nurse Joy’s that want to keep you all safe, and happy, by going against the current system.”
“Ah, rebels aligned with our cause,” Malevolence said with a sagely tone, nodding to herself.
“Right…” I agreed hesitantly. “Anyways. Valerie also wants to help, so this is probably where you’ll all live for the time. Of course, the offers of finding Trainers or being released are still on the table.”
“Some have voiced they want to stay with you,” Hate said, sounding a bit reluctant.
“That’s fine, too. But anyone who stays with me is going to be training. A lot,” I emphasised.
The two of them looked at each other and then nodded. “We will tell them,” Malevolence said.
I nodded. “Now, how do you want to help?” I asked. I knew a bit of what their ideas were since I’d overheard them, but I wanted to hear it from them.
Hate seemed to straighten up. “Being the Pokemon of a former Admin, I was taken to many places. I know the location of twenty six Flare bases.”
Immediately my head spun a bit. That many? “And talking with everyone else, we have confirmed more,” Malevolence added. “We estimate thirty two in total. Although we think some of them may be overlaps.”
Okay now my head was definitely spinning. There were that many bases? I guess that made sense since there were thousands of members, but seriously? That many? “Adria is going to hate me by the end of this,” I said with a chuckle.
The two of them looked at each other, puzzled by the statement. “We are unsure how to explain their location… but we know that we could find them if we are brought nearby.”
“That’s no problem,” I said with a bit of a smile. “We’ll do trips around Kalos and pinpoint them, and give the information to Officer Jenny. But before that, we need to get prepared for what is going to be a massive influx of Pokemon…”
They both nodded. “We shall help in any way that we can,” Hate said.
Malevolence expressed her agreement. “We wish to end them.”
“I don’t know if we can do that… but we can cripple them,” I said with a smile and reached out a hand to each of them. I hesitated, unsure if they actually wanted to be pet. Malevolence huffed and walked away, but Hate pressed her head forward into my hand. I smiled a bit more as I rubbed between her ears. “Explain to everyone the plan then, and tomorrow we’ll introduce everyone to each other.”
Hate nodded, enjoying the physical contact for a moment longer before stepping away and trotting off towards Impulsive and Smug.
I turned my attention back to Valerie, who was still standing there. Just staring at her screen.
With a sigh and a roll of my eyes, I walked over. “Did you send it?”
She flinched, glancing at me and then looking away. “No… I just… I don’t know what to say. What if she doesn’t agree? Or thinks I’m weird, or something? She’s just…so cool…”
I sighed, shaking my head. “Come on, Valerie. You won’t know if you don’t ask.”
She didn’t move, staring at the ground now.
“Okay.” She blinked, looking up at me. There was a hopeful expression on her face, which I immediately dashed as I snatched her phone. “I’ll do it for you.”
“Ah! No!” She immediately tried to get her phone back, but I just held it up out of her reach. “Curse your height!” she cried, hopping up, but her fancy boots made the action practically useless.
‘Hey, I was just wondering if you’d like to go get coffee sometime?’ I typed on her phone and sent it.
Valerie cried out some more. “No! You can’t do that!”
I laughed, holding her phone up out of her reach. “Well, it’s not like you can stop me.”
She continued to whine and complain until there was a soft ping and she froze. I looked up at the phone and read aloud. “Oh, Valerie! Long time no hang out. I’d love to go get some coffee. I’m in Lumiose this month. How about that one cafe you showed me next Tuesday? Noon?” I put her phone into her hand, a huge smile on my face. “There. Now you have a date Tuesday at noon.”
Valerie remained quiet, stunned. I was worried for a moment that she had broken before she started muttering. “She agreed? She actually wants to see me?”
“Of course she does,” I said with a smile, patting her on the shoulder.
Her eyes seemed completely unfocused, her face was red, but she had a big, almost dopey smile on her face. “I have a date with Malva..."
Chapter 23
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
Chapter Text
To say that my mind was reeling would be an understatement. I hadn’t checked who the contact was. Why hadn’t I checked? Why would I have checked? I expected someone closer to her age. Wait, how old was Valerie? How old was Malva? Irrelevant. This was a situation that I had to handle extremely delicately. There was no guarantee that Malva was part of team Flare. She did quit it, afterall. But when? Had that happened already? She bailed when it collapsed, right? So did that mean she was still a member?
The timeline I knew differed from the game to the anime. This world had mostly been following the anime, so it was a safer assumption that she was fine. But there had also been things that didn’t. Too many variables. Too many questions and no answers.
I’m not panicking.
You’re panicking.
Out loud I questioned. “Malva, eh? Didn’t see that coming.” Thankfully schooling my expression was something I’d learned to do pretty early in my teaching career. I wasn’t an expert, but thankfully this girl wasn’t paying attention to me, still glued to her phone.
Valerie scoffed, her face red. “Malva is amazing. Elite Four member. Reporter. Fashion star,” she listed off, and I couldn’t help mentally adding ‘Team Flare Admin’ to her list. “She’s been on my show a few times and it takes everything I have to not gush.”
“You mean gush like you are now,” I asked with a bit of a smirk. I was trying not to panic any more than I already was. Seeing the expression Cara was making out of the corner of my eye gave me the impression that she was very much aware of how I was feeling.
She gave me a slap with her costume wing. “It’s hard not to! Did you see her battle in the last League? The only one that was able to beat her was Laura.”
And that had been quite an impressive showing when I thought back on it. Knowing more about how strong Pokemon were, and the sort of power scaling that was in this world, beating an Elite Four member was no joke. Of course, it had been staggered in a way to give the Pokemon time to recover, but the sheer fact that Malva had only lost once in so many battles was impressive. She hadn’t fought all ten that made it that far, but she had fought six of them and only lost once.
However, that brought a memory to my mind. Anime Malva had a Houndoom. This Malva did not. That implied that this was the Malva from the game, meaning she was still currently a Team Flare member…
“I did watch it,” I said with a nod, trying to keep my focus on the conversation while I thought. My eyes wandered over to the wolf pack and I had an idea. Could I force that? Would that even work? How would I get her to- my mind screeched to a halt and I looked at Valerie. That could work. Or it could all blow up in my face. I was never that much of a schemer, and trying to meddle with fate and such was probably going to go poorly. But hey, at least I had a plan.
“It was so amazing. Six battles, and nearly a clean sweep,” Valerie continued to gush.
“It was. Malva is an extremely impressive Trainer.” I didn’t really need to hype Malva up, but I wanted- no, I guess I needed to show my support. “And you have a date with her.”
Suddenly all words seemed to fail the poor girl. Like someone just pulled the e-brake. “Oh… right…” she eventually muttered.
I let her chew on that thought for a moment. “Anyways. I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk with her about the wolf pack yet.”
Her attention suddenly snapped to me, confused. “What? Why? She would be brilliant publicity for it.”
My expression fell a bit flat. “Publicity for what? We don’t even have anything. Not really, anyways.”
“Yet,” she said firmly. “I have the space, and with the Joy’s help, everything will go smoothly.”
I sighed. “Valerie, we’re not talking about just these Pokemon. We are talking about potentially hundreds, maybe even thousands, of Team Flare Pokemon. There are a few thousand members, and even if we only counted each as having a single Pokemon, that’s still a massive amount.”
She just stared at me for a moment. “Huh?”
“Did you think that this was it?” I asked, giving her an amused look. “That this was all the Pokemon that I would be trying to save?”
“No, but I… uhm…” She was looking back and forth from me to the dogs.
“And that’s just Team Flare. There’s also other teams: Team Rocket and Team Galactic, just to name two.” While I didn’t plan to actively go after them, unless they forced me to, I wanted there to be a place that even other regions could send Pokemon. Maybe I was being too blunt about it, but I needed her to understand what she was trying to get into. I was also struggling to keep calm since I was freaking out about Malva. “This is a huge commitment. And I’m not saying you can’t do it - I know you can - but it’s going to be so much work and I just want you to be sure that you understand what you’re getting into.”
She had a rather contemplative look on her face. From her expression I was guessing that this was the first time she’d actually really thought about it all. “So we’re talking about… potentially thousands of Pokemon.”
“Yes.”
“All of whom are probably traumatized and abused.”
“Yes.”
Her brow furrowed a bit. “Okay I’m starting to see why this hasn’t been done before…”
“And to make it more difficult, we’re going to be doing a lot really quickly.” She gave me a bit of a puzzled look as I spoke. “The wolf pack wants revenge. They want to save their fellows, and know the location of numerous Team Flare bases.”
She actually seemed to get a bit pale at that. I knew that this was a lot more than what she signed up for, or I guess it would be volunteered for, but that was all the more reason why I had to explain it to her. “So it’s… going to essentially be every Team Flare member's Pokemon suddenly dropped on our lap. That’s going to be rough,” she said as she folded her arms, partially hugging herself.
“The problem is space, and food. Everything else can be taken slow. Therapy and adoption aren’t something you can rush,” I explained. “There’s a priority to it all. The most important thing is space. If we can’t have the space, then there’s no point in worrying about any step after.”
“Thousands of Pokemon,” she muttered, her brow furrowing. Suddenly it was like she had a realization. “I need to talk with my great uncle.”
I frowned a bit. “The old Gym Leader?”
She nodded.
“Alright. But… Keep it vague.”
Immediately she looked pissed. “You don’t think he’s trustworthy?”
I put up my hands. “That’s not it at all. I don’t know the man, sure. But I’m more worried about someone finding out. You have to remember that there’s a ton of Team Flare spies. They’re scattered everywhere and some of them hold really important positions.”
Her eyes widened a bit. “Do… Do you think there’s a Gym Leader that’s part of Team Flare?”
That was honestly something I hadn’t even thought of. I knew some of the members. But I didn’t know every member. “That’s possible.”
She took a few deep breaths, looking off towards all of the Pokemon. “You weren’t kidding when you said this was going to be hard…”
I nodded. “So, you can talk with your uncle. But just don’t explain things too much. We’re essentially trying to set up a reserve. You can tell…” I paused as I tried to think of a good excuse. “Tell him that you’re helping to set up a Pokemon Reserve that I and the Joy’s are working on.”
She gave me a puzzled look. “What’s a Pokemon Reserve?”
I froze. She didn’t know what that was? That was a foreign concept here? “Like… The Friend Safari,” I tried.
That just got her even more confused. “What’s that?”
Did that not exist? That… I guess that kind of made sense? That was very much a game thing, so it made sense that it wouldn’t exist in a real world scenario. But now I had to think of some other example… Wait, she was from Johto. “Like the Safari Zone.”
Immediately she understood. “Ah, okay. So something like, you’re setting up Kalos' own Safari Zone.”
I nodded. “That’s honestly a good way to put it…although it would be different in that people don’t go in in an attempt to capture Pokemon. More like…” I paused as my mind went through possible scenarios. This was actually a pretty good idea. “Okay, I have a plan now. But the big problem is still going to be space. I’ll talk with the Joy’s about my ideas and see what they think. Do you mind if they come here?”
She was giving me a bit of an odd look, but that was understandable. I was having a bit of difficulty explaining what I was thinking about and kept cutting myself off. “Okay… yeah, that’s fine. I’ll let Allie know about it.”
Now I had a puzzled look on my face.
Valerie just let out a giggle. “Allie is my secretary.”
“Ah.” I cleared my throat. “I never got her name.”
That just got more giggles from her. “Alright. I’ll go and talk with my great uncle. I’ve got another match soon, so I’ll probably talk about it with him after.”
“And don’t forget to clear your Tuesday schedule for your date,” I said with a bit of a smirk.
She stiffened at the comment as if she had forgotten. “Crap! I need to go do that now.” She turned and bolted from the room.
I just chuckled a bit at her antics and pulled out my phone. First I sent a text to Evelyne; ‘Hey, do you mind coming over to the Gym to see the wolf pack, and discuss things? I’ve got some good ideas but I need to run them by you.’ Followed by a text to Adria; ‘Need to discuss some things with you. Are you still in Laverre? If not, there’s no rush and I can talk to you when I go back to Santalune.’ I was about to send another text to involve Professor Sycamore, but I was still pissed at him so decided against it.
When I put my phone away, Cara was standing there, looking at me expectantly. “What happened?”
It was kind of hard not to be amused by the look on her face. “Nothing that we can’t handle. Just… Something Valerie said really caught me off guard and I’m scheming.”
Her right brow raised so high I thought it was going to leave her head. “Scheming? What sort of scheming?”
I reached forward, petting the top of her head. “I’m going to make Malva see that this world has plenty in it to care about.”
Adria was the one that got back to me first. I’d gone over to the sitting area to watch the television. More than half the dogs were absolutely hooked. It was actually pretty funny, but most importantly, it kept them all relaxed. As for the text; ‘Yes I’m still here. I have way too much paperwork to go back to Santalune.’
‘Okay, good. When you have some time, come over to the gym. I’m currently staying here.’ I replied.
All I got back was a bunch of question marks, followed by an affirmation that she was heading over right now. Even though I tried to explain, again, that there was no rush, she didn’t reply. “Guess Adria is coming,” I commented to Rio, who I had thought for a moment was Cara. They had swapped places at some point and I guess I hadn’t been paying attention.
Her ear seemed to swivel a bit towards me to show that she was paying attention. “Adria is that nice Officer, right?” Rio asked, though she didn’t take her eyes off the screen.
“Yes. Since she’s helping with the wolf pack and taking down Team Flare, she needs to be kept in the loop,” I explained. Looking over my shoulder and out at the room, I could see Cara and Dee talking by the pond on the other side of the room. It was good to see the two of them taking time to relax.
A few minutes later my phone pinged and I looked at the message from Evelyne. ‘Im on my way. Just got off shift so I have time. Also the Elder essentially gave us blanket approval for whatever we want to try as long as it doesnt involve any financial support.’ What did this woman have against apostrophes?
But that was convenient. Both of them at the same time would save me on having to explain it multiple times.
I took a moment to look for one of the leaders of the wolf pack. Hate was the closest. I had noticed that rather than just having one Pokemon in charge, they seem to have the few strongest be in charge and sort of work by group decision. Rather efficient, and I couldn’t help but wonder where they learned that.
“Hate.” She perked up when I called out to her and she came over. “There’s an Officer Jenny and a Nurse Joy coming.” Immediately she bristled at just the mention of Officer Jenny. “It’s okay. This is the Jenny that handed you all over to me. She’s safe. I just need you to tell everyone and spread the word so they don’t panic.”
It was obvious she was hesitant. She’d probably been raised her entire life that any sort of Officer was bad. “Okay…”
“She’s the one who’s helping take down Team Flare,” I added, and that seemed to relax her. She nodded before turning and heading off to talk with the others.
If my actions so far had given Adria so much paperwork that she’d been stuck here in Laverre for this long, I can’t imagine how much work she was going to have over the course of what I had planned. If things went well, Ash would never have any confrontations with Team Flare. And wasn’t that an interesting thought? What sort of conflict would he arrive to that he would have to solve? Or would the universe give him a break and let him just have an easy time in Kalos? Arceus knows he would need it by the time he got here.
After about thirty minutes, I got a text from Adria; ‘I’m here. I was warned not to just enter the room.’
I got up, looking over at Hate and Malevolence, giving them a nod to let them know that the Officer was here. “Alright!” Malevolence shouted. “Best behaviors!” Even though they had been told things would be alright, I could still see that a lot of them were nervous or fearful. Some took the opportunity to hide.
When I opened the door, the first thing I noticed was that Adria wasn’t in uniform. If I had to call her outfit anything it would be business casual. She had on black slacks and a matching button up. Her eyes did the same to me as I did to her, giving me a quick once over. “How’s it been going so far?” she asked.
I moved a bit so that she could enter, but she froze the moment she made an attempt. “It’s been going alright,” I tried to assure, although I very much understood that immediate sort of apprehensive feeling from a few dozen Pokemon staring at you. “Everything’s fine. Just don’t pay them any mind.”
She still looked pretty apprehensive, but nodded. “Alright…”
“I won’t lie, they don’t like that you’re here, but they also know that you’re trying to help. They’re all just very untrusting,” I explained as we moved a bit away from the door.
It looked like she wanted to say something, but changed her mind. Instead she just sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I get that.”
For a moment the two of us looked at the watching Pokemon, some of which had relaxed and gone back to what they’re doing. “Joy is on the way. We’re going to discuss what to do about them.”
“Oh? So you got the Joy’s to join in on your mysterious plans?” she asked, her attention now fully on me.
I nodded. “And things are going to get… a lot more hectic.”
She immediately frowned. “That’s why you wanted to talk to me.”
Again I nodded. “They know where a lot of the Team Flare bases are.”
I wasn’t looking at her, but I practically felt the way she tensed up. Her eyes were flicking towards different members of the wolf pack as if trying to decide something. “Is… that trustworthy information?”
“I’m going to confirm it.” Immediately I could tell she was going to protest, but I put up my hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful about it. I’m just going to confirm their locations, and nothing else.”
She folded her arms, glaring a bit at me. “And how exactly are you going to go about doing that?”
“The wolf pack knows where they are. I’m going to spend a few days and just go around Kalos, spend some time in and around each city, and note their locations. No confrontations. I’m not going to go anywhere near them if I can help it.”
Judging by her expression it didn’t look like she believed me. “I don’t know you that well, but you don’t really strike me as subtle.”
I snorted. “I can be subtle if I want to be. I’ve just not had a reason to be.”
From the way she was looking me up and down, I could tell that she wasn’t convinced. “You’ll have to forgive my skepticism, since I’ve not seen anything subtle about you. Just look at the way you dress.”
That got a bit of a frown out of me as I looked down at myself. “What’s wrong with the way I dress?”
“Cargo pants, a t-shirt, and a long coat. With your long hair and the way you’re wearing that Key Stone, you look like someone vaguely important if not disheveled,” she argued as she gestured at me. “You’re very recognizable.”
I put my hand over my chest in mock offense. “I’ll have you know that only people I know ever recognize me. It’s actually something I’ve been a bit annoyed at. Only being recognized by Joy’s because of Dee is a bit bothersome.”
“Maybe it’s the shock,” she suggested, a bit of a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. “Afterall, who expects a Pokemon Expert to look like-” again she gestured at me again, “That.”
For a moment I was silent, looking at her with as much of a mock hurt expression as I could manage. “That’s so mean.”
She snorted in response. “Okay. So then… I’m guessing you want me to handle the raids?”
I let the expression remain for a moment longer before nodding, and letting a smile pull at my mouth a bit. “Exactly. And then we’ll take all the confiscated Pokemon and- Well I’m still working on that part, but I’ve got some good ideas, I think.”
Her eyes darted back towards the many Pokemon, almost all of whom had gone back to what they were doing. The only exceptions were Hate and Malevolence. They were clearly the most bothered by Officer Jenny being here. “Alright. So what’s your idea?”
“I want to wait for Joy to get here, so I don’t have to explain it again,” I explained, looking out at the Pokemon as well. Some seemed a bit on edge, but most had calmed down.
“I still can’t believe you got the Joy Elder to agree to whatever nonsense you’re cooking up,” Adria grumbled.
A soft snort escaped me. “Who says it’s nonsense?”
“Me,” she retorted.
That got a laugh out of me. Before I had a chance to argue about it, there was a knock at the door. Well, as good a knock as could be done on such a heavy door. That was probably Evelyne. I was honestly surprised that Adria had beaten her here, but I wasn’t actually sure if the Pokecenter or police office was closer.
The sight that met me when I opened the door actually caused me to freeze. For some reason I was struggling to comprehend what I was seeing. There was Evelyne, but there were also four other Joy’s with her. Again I had that really strange feeling I got whenever I saw more than one Joy at a time, but I quickly tried to force whatever that was out of my head. “Ah, Evelyne, I wasn’t expecting…uh… so many Joy’s.”
“Sorry it took so long,” she said with a smile. “These are all the ones that agreed to help. Well, the ones that were currently free and nearby.”
“How many Joy’s are planning to join us in our endeavors?” I asked slowly, moving a bit out of the way so that they could enter.
“Fifty seven,” one of the other Joy’s answered with quite a big smile.
“So far,” another added.
“Some of them aren’t in Kalos, though,” Evelyne tacked on to the end.
Well that just made my head spin a bit for multiple reasons.That was a lot more support than I was expecting. Like, a lot more. But I was also struggling to follow which Joy was which and which one was the one speaking. “Well, that’s actually wonderful news,” I managed, raising a hand and rubbing my eyes to try and stop my head from spinning.
“Indeed,” I heard a Joy say. “So, what’s the big plan?” I wasn’t sure if that was a different one or the same one.
“Give me a moment,” I said before turning around and staring off into the distance. This was an extremely odd feeling that I was trying to comprehend. It was like my brain was trying to recognize them as individuals but also force them together in my perspective?
“Are you alright?” Adria asked suddenly, standing in my peripheral vision.
“Yes, fine.” I shook my head a bit. “Sorry. I’ve never seen so many Joy’s in one place.”
“Ah,” the Officer Jenny nodded a bit. “It’s a bit off putting, isn’t it?”
I opened my mouth to say something but stopped and shook my head again. “No, that’s not it. I just…” I waved my hand a bit before turning back around. “It doesn’t matter. My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace. Thanks all for coming.”
“I’m Marie Joy, from Aquacorde,” one of the Joy’s said with a smile.
“Delphine, from here in Laverre,” another said.
“Rebecca, also from here,” the one that appeared to be the youngest, introduced herself with a bit of a bow.
The final one had quite a big smile on her face. “Flavienne Joy, from Snowbelle.”
It was interesting. Now that I knew all of their names, the feeling was almost completely gone. There was still this odd feeling, but it was much more manageable, as if having their name separated them enough in my head. “Great. Two of you are from pretty far away?” I questioned, looking at the one from Aquacorde and Snowbelle. Honestly I was most surprised to see someone from Aquacorde.
“We were here to discuss things with Evelyne,” Marie answered, still wearing that same smile. “When she asked for support for your new rehabilitation program, a lot of Joy’s jumped on the chance to change things.”
“She was rather vague about it,” Flavienne added, a bit of a frown on her face as she looked at Evelyne, who seemed a bit put out at her words.
“Hey it’s not my fault-” she started.
But I cut her off. “It really isn’t. I didn’t have a plan until today. Not really, anyways.”
The four newer Joy’s looked at me with a mixture of different emotions, although most of it seemed to be shock or disappointment. “So there’s no plan?” Rebecca asked.
“There wasn’t. But there is now.” I stood up a bit straighter with a smile on my face, though most of them seemed unconvinced. “We’re going to set up a Pokemon Reserve.”
They all looked confused. “Pokemon Reserve? Is that like that Nature Preserve in Unova?” Delphine asked.
Suddenly Marie and Evelyne perked up. “So you’re really from Unova?” Marie asked.
“Does that mean you got your memory back?” Evelyne asked.
There were a few more questions peppered in, such as who I was or if I had contacted my family. I had to put up my hand to get them to stop. “That is a Unova thing, yes. And yes my plan is similar.”
It was quiet for a moment. “So?” Evelyne prompted. “You’re from Unova? How did you end up in Kalos?”
I shrugged. “No idea. A lot of details are…” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Have you tried contacting anyone?” Delphine asked.
That caused me to pause, trying to think about the best way to deflect this line of questioning. So I sighed before responding, “There’s no one to contact.”
Maybe that was a rather rough and abrupt way to end that line of questioning, but I honestly didn’t want to explain things. And while the way I worded it left a lot open to interpretation, I was sure it would spread amongst the Joy’s and they’d hopefully not question me further on it.
Unfortunately I quickly realized that it definitely wasn’t the best way to change the subject judging by the pained expressions on their faces. For a moment I tried to think if I should try and cover whatever sort of misconception they were thinking, but decided to just change the subject. “Anyways. So, my plan is to set up a reserve. You can think of it sort of like the Safari Zone. It’ll be a large scale area where we can send the Pokemon, treat them, allow them space and protect them.”
The change in subject thankfully seemed to work as they all refocused back onto the problem. “And then we can have Trainers come in and catch Pokemon?” one of the Joy’s asked, I wasn’t sure which.
“Sort of. Rather than catch them, it’s more that they will have to come in and befriend them, or convince them to join up with them,” I explained. “That’s the type of difference I’m going for from a Safari Zone.”
They all nodded in agreement. “Well, that at least gives us a goal,” Delphine said rather enthusiastically.
“But that doesn’t really solve any problem that we have,” Rebecca interjected, a bit of a frown on her face.
“The problem is still space, and money,” Evelyne agreed.
“Well, Valerie is working on the space problem,” I said, gesturing to the area around. “She has a bunch of areas like this, and she’s talking to the old Gym Leader. Not sure what she has planned there, but I think we have the space problem mostly solved.”
“So what about the money?” Marie asked.
It was so difficult to keep them all separate in my head. Evelyne was easier to pick out from the group, but the others made it difficult. “I have some ideas. I’ll be financing a big portion of it, I’m sure. But as for the long term, I think one thing we’ll be doing is charging for entry, like the Safari Zone.”
There was a general murmuring of agreement with that. “That would definitely bring in some cash flow. But not enough.”
I nodded. “Unfortunately this is something that is going to be running at a loss until we can figure out things, and might forever. Donations will be something we gear towards. Volunteers rather than employees. We’ll eventually need publicity, but that’s not something I have any experience with.”
“What will we tell the public?” Adria asked, finally speaking up.
“It’s a reserve for abandoned Pokemon,” I replied easily. “We won’t explicitly announce that we take Pokemon from criminals, since that would draw unwanted attention on many fronts. We explain that it’s a place to rehome Pokemon that for some reason or another no longer have a Trainer, and encourage that people can come and hang out with them and possibly take some.”
“Should we charge for that? For taking Pokemon?” Marie asked.
I shook my head. “We want to encourage people to take them. An entry fee is fine, and the choice of taking a Pokemon must be mutual between the Pokemon and Trainer, rather than just buying a Pokemon.”
They all nodded at that. “So we’re encouraging people to visit, to not only have some income but to lower our workload,” Delphine mused. “It’s a good system… I think it’s similar to something that was tried, but it never got traction.”
“Oh, I remember that,” Flavienne chimed in, actually putting her hand in the air. “About five years ago? In Paldea, I think? They ran out of funding before they could even open.”
“That was the last time someone’s tried anything,” Delphine added with a nod.
Well that was interesting to know about. I wonder who tried that? “Alright, so you’ve all heard the current plan. Questions? Concerns?” I asked, looking around at the group who slowly shook their heads.
Despite the lack of questions, the Joy’s started to discuss things amongst themselves, Adria joining in. There were a lot of logistics to work out, and they were talking about getting some medical equipment and working out some sort of volunteer schedule. With so many Joy’s on board, I figured we’d have plenty of people.
Eventually Adria brought up security issues and I let out a snort, which got all of their attention on me. “What? You think they’re just going to stand around and let people take them against their will?” I gestured at some of the wolf pack that were nearby. “These are Pokemon trained to battle. Honestly, they would have to bring an army to take them, especially when we actually get going.”
That seemed to be good enough for them, and I put my focus more on the wolf pack that was nearby. I hadn’t realized they had come over to apparently listen in. All of the Houndoom and Mightyena were there, patiently listening.
“Do you have any input?” I asked them, which halted the conversation amongst Joy’s.
They looked at each other for a moment. “You said not all of us will have to fight, right?” Grim asked, moving a bit forward to talk.
I nodded. “That’s right.”
“How will things be for those that don’t want to fight?” That was Rough talking.
“Just the same,” I said with a smile. “You won’t be treated any different because you don’t want to fight. Which does bring up a good point.” I turned my attention back to the group of humans. “There are going to be three categories that Pokemon will be in. Those that want to be adopted by a Trainer, those that don’t want to fight but want to be adopted, and those that don’t want to be adopted.”
“Some of them don’t want to fight?” Adria questioned, clearly confused at the thought of a Pokemon not wanting to battle.
“There aren’t a lot,” I said with a few nods. “Most of them want to fight, but some of them don’t, and some of them don’t want a new Trainer. So we’ll have what I’m going to call permanent residents of our reserve.”
While Adria seemed a bit skeptical, the Joy’s all nodded as if expecting that. Of course they would easily be able to accept that, since they had a ton of nurse Pokemon in their employment. Which seemed to spark an idea in Marie, “So those permanent residents will be assisting in rehabilitation?”
I nodded. “I think that would be best.”
The conversation started to go back to working out logistics, and obtaining things that they would need. At one point they called another Joy, who apparently worked at one of the Safari Zones from the conversation that they were having. It was interesting to hear that there was actually a company called Safari that ran them. When I asked about them, Adria informed me that they’re a partner company of Silph Co., and they’re also the main employer of Pokemon Rangers.
The conversation went on for hours as they talked, and I was sort of forced out of the conversation. Which was amusing. I was mostly being pushed into the position of financial backer and Pokemon supplier. Which was fair, since I didn’t know how to run something like this. Neither did the Joy’s, but they knew other Joy’s who were knowledgeable on the subject.
Eventually, to my surprise, Valerie returned. She was more than a bit surprised to see so many people. “Ah. Hello.”
All of the Joy’s greeted her in return and introduced themselves. “Did you talk with your uncle?” I asked once that was done.
Valerie had a huge grin on her face. “I did. He wants to help. Says it might be a good thing to waste time on since he’s retired.”
“Good, good.” That was honestly a relief.
“Yeah, he wants you to come visit Kiloude and discuss things with him in person,” Valerie said, practically bouncing in place in excitement.
I nodded a bit. “Alright. I can do that. When does he want to meet me?”
Suddenly her hand shot out from inside her costume, and she was holding out a card. “Tomorrow. This is a TMV Pass that you can use to get on the TMV in Lumiose Station. It’s a special train that only goes there.”
That was similar to the game, but I had to ask, “Why do I need a special pass?”
“Well, Kiloude is a special place. It’s where all the old Kalos Champions and retired Gym Leaders live,” she explained, and all the Joy’s and even Adria nodded.
“I… I see…” I reached out and took the pass, looking at it for a moment. It looked pretty unremarkable, having TMV stamped on it. “What does TMV stand for?” I asked, looking up at Valerie.
She shrugged. “No idea.”
Looking at the others, they all shook their heads as well.
I snorted. “Okay. Not important I guess,” I mumbled as I put it into my bag. Guess I knew what I was going to do tomorrow…
We all spent the next few hours discussing more of the logistics, though there was a lot of going over things that had already been discussed in order to catch Valerie up on the plan. She seemed really excited about it. Eventually it ended when one of the Joy’s had to leave for their shift, and that was the trigger for everyone wishing each other goodnight and leaving.
Adria was the only one who didn’t leave immediately. “This is going to be big,” she mumbled.
“You have no idea,” I said with a sigh. She looked at me, raising an eyebrow at me. “Adria.” A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “The next few months are going to be rough.”
~
Stepping off the train the next day I found myself in Lumiose Station. In the games, there was only the one train that went to Kiloude, but here they went everywhere. It really made getting around a lot easier. Convenient transportation.
I made a quick check that I had everything as I made my way over to the special train section marked with TMV. I had left most of the wolf pack, but several of them had insisted on coming with. So now, on top of having Cara, Rio, Scoly, Dee, Primarina, Diancie, and Eevee in my hood, I also had Liar, Rough, Hazard, Disaster, Immodest, Grim, Impulsive, and Hate. Malevolence wanted to come as well, but she conceded the position to Hate when they realized they still needed to leave leaders at the base.
That was also a funny thing to find out. They had started to refer to the gym as their new base. I guess habits die hard.
The person standing beside the gate that led to the TMV was giving me a look as I approached. Maybe Adria had a point about my appearance. However I just ignored them as I retrieved my TMV pass and swiped it across some sort of odd pedestal in front of the doorway. The sort of gate gave a sort of chime of approval as I moved through the odd turnstile type thing. The look the man gave me was both surprised and disapproving at the same time. I just continued to ignore him.
The train didn’t look that much different from the others that I’d ridden on, aside from being marked with TMV on the side and only having one car. It was also a bit weird that it was just sitting there, but Valerie had told me this morning that it didn’t travel as often. The first train was at eight in the morning, which was the one I was catching. Everyone had been so upset that I’d gotten up early.
As I boarded the train I noted that I was the only one on board. That was a bit odd, but I supposed I was early, and this train wasn’t often used. Valerie said sometimes it was just empty. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I didn’t like it, so I sat at the back where I could see the entire train car.
Honestly I had had plans to start doing my city tours to locate Team Flare bases today, but this was more important in the grand scheme of things.
The shifting of Eevee pulled me out of my thoughts as she looked around. “Where are we going?” she asked sleepily.
“Kiloude,” I said as I reached up, petting her softly. “How are you feeling?”
It took a moment before she yawned. “Better? Less tired. You have so many Pokemon now and it got so loud.”
I chuckled a bit. “Yeah. A lot of things have been happening, and you’ve been sleeping through most of it.”
She made a sort of disgruntled noise, and I pet her more in response. “So what’s been going on?” she asked with another yawn.
With a bit of a smile, I gave her a quick rundown of all the stuff that’d been happening lately. Judging from the surprised and questioning noises she made, she really had not been paying any attention the last few days. “So now we’re going to go and explain things to someone who should be able to help.”
Her head tilted from side to side a few times. “I don’t get it. Why isn’t there already something to help everyone?”
“Money,” I said simply.
That just got her to frown. “Money is stupid.”
I snorted and nodded. “It is.”
While waiting for the train to depart, I pet Eevee and checked her over. Physically she had completely recovered, but the problem now was her energy. And as I had been discovering, energy is far more important to Pokemon than I had originally thought. That made the disease even worse.
She seemed quite pleased at the attention, rubbing herself against my hands.
Someone stepping onto the train caught my attention, but it was just the conductor. He seemed just as surprised to see me as I was him. He gave me a nod before closing the door. It was seconds after he did so that the train started to move, and we were off.
It took quite a while before we got to Kiloude. There was a lot to see, but it was mostly wilderness. It seemed that this train had its own tracks, since I didn’t even see any cities on the path. There were also a lot of tunnels.
My legs felt a bit jellified as I stood up and stepped off the train, wishing the conductor a good day. There were a few people who gave me strange looks as they boarded the train.
Kiloude was a rather small city in comparison to others. It was more like a retirement community than anything else, but it still had quite a lot going for it. While it didn’t have the Friend Safari, the Battle Maison was a thing. Apparently that was where those that got high ranks in the League came to train.
That meant Andrew might be in this city.
Just the thought that we might find them practically sent Cara into a frenzy, demanding that she come. As much as I wanted to try my hand at that, I had a feeling that we wouldn’t run into him, and if we did, we wouldn’t be able to battle him.
Especially considering the fact that I hadn’t even left the station when I came face to face with an older looking man. “You’re Jason, I presume?” he asked. Looking him over, he was definitely related to Valerie. It was mostly the eyes being nearly identical to hers; large, pupiless, and a deep violet color. Although other than that, he looked completely different. Short grayed hair, a slight hunch, and wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts despite the colder weather.
“Yes. You’re Valerie’s uncle?” I asked.
He laughed and nodded. “Call me Aymond. Valerie speaks pretty highly of you,” he said as he turned and started walking.
I shrugged as I followed. “Some of the stuff I’ve done is impressive, I will admit. Though a lot of it has been luck.”
He watched me out of the corner of his eyes. “And this whole… Safari thing…”
“It’s more of a reserve. Similar, but not quite what we’re going for,” I explained, before proceeding to explain in more detail about our plans and what we wanted to do with it.
Aymond was mostly quiet as he listened, now and then asking questions. We had sat down at a cafe that was just outside the station. “Well, it’s an interesting idea.”
“Certainly is.”
I felt my entire body tense as I looked at the person who had just come up and sat down. “Diantha,” I greeted with a nod of my head.
The dark grey haired woman gave me a bit of a smile. “Jason, right? I’ve heard a bit about you.”
“That’s worrying,” I couldn’t help but say.
That got her to laugh. “Aymond contacted me last night after talking with his niece about a rather interesting project.” A waitress set down a cup in front of her, clearly having seen her and prepared her order before she had to even ask. “While I normally wouldn’t get involved, I couldn’t help my curiosity when your name came up.”
I arched an eyebrow at her. “Why would my involvement pique your interest?”
“Well I’ve been hearing a lot about you. There are so few Pokemon Experts, after all. They’re even more rare than Elite Four members.” She sipped at her drink, which judging from the rather rich smell, was espresso or some kind of strong coffee.
“That’s even more worrying,” I said with a chuckle.
“From what Sycamore has said, you’re an odd one, but your knowledge is the real deal.” She leaned a bit towards me. “So if you’re trying to do something like this, there’s got to be a really good reason.”
I looked at her for a moment, trying to decide if I should explain the why of my plans. “How much do you know about Team Flare?” I asked.
She scoffed, leaning back in her seat. “Lysandre’s little crime organization? Not much.”
So she knew Lysandre was in charge? That was interesting and concerning. “If you know that, why haven’t you done anything?”
“Not my job. I’m not Cynthia. I don’t go around poking my nose into every little conflict; I’ve already got way too much on my plate as a Champion.” She sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t know how Cynthia does it.”
There was a snort from Aymond. “That girl’s always been wild.”
Diantha nodded. “While Lysandre is an annoying prick, he’s also done a lot of good. Mega stone research and the Holo Caster alone give him a pass on a lot of things, even if the way he goes about it isn’t entirely ethical.”
I wasn’t sure if I could frown anymore than I was now. “You know his plan is to end the world and remake it in his image, right?”
Both of them gave me an incredulous look before laughing. “Oh please, like he could do that,” Diantha managed to say through her laughter. “He’s pretty smart and capable, but he’s not that capable.”
So Diantha wasn’t doing anything because she didn’t think of him as a threat. “I suppose that’s the case now that he doesn’t have access to the Ultimate Weapon.”
“Ah, right. I heard about that,” Aymond said, nodding. “Hell of a thing. But we’re not here to talk about that. We wanted to know more about your little reserve thing. And what I can get if I help.”
That was extremely annoying. Was this what happened when you got to their level? To her, Lysandre wasn’t a threat, he was just annoying? You just stopped seeing threats as anything more than minor annoyances? That would have to be something I was cautious of if I ever got to the level she was at. “Fine.”
“Oh don’t be like that,” Diantha said with a bit of a smile. “We’re here because we’re interested in possibly helping out.”
I looked at her for a moment before taking a deep breath and sighing. I decided that it was probably best to not try and force Diantha to get involved, and explain my idea of a Pokemon Reserve, where abandoned and confiscated Pokemon would be taken, rehabilitated, and potentially be given to Trainers or other people depending on what the Pokemon wanted. I was actually starting to get annoyed with how much I was explaining and reexplaining how this was all going, but it was necessary.
There were a few moments of silence after I finished, the two of them digesting the information. It was Aymond that broke the silence first, “And what do you get out of all this?”
My brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“What’s the end goal? Money? Power? What do you get from doing all this?” he asked, gesturing vaguely towards me.
That actually confused me a bit. “Why do I have to get something out of this?”
He let out a snort that almost sounded like a scoff. “No one does anything for nothing, boy.”
It was silent for a moment as I glanced between him and Diantha. I couldn’t tell the Champion's thoughts on the matter, but she looked thoughtful. I sighed, shaking my head. “What a sad way to see the world…”
“Excuse me?” he snapped.
“I want to help Pokemon. I shouldn’t have to have a reason for doing something like that.” Clearly he was unconvinced by my words. I just sighed and shook my head again. “If you’re so desperate to reason some sort of need to do something like this, then how about it makes me feel better about the life that I’m living. That I didn’t just sit and do nothing while thousands of Pokemon are put to death because of a system that doesn’t take the time to care for them.”
At least my words seemed to shut him up, but he still had a skeptical, unconvinced look on his face.
Honestly that just pissed me off more. “Do you like Pokemon?” I suddenly asked the old man.
“What? Of course I like Pokemon. You think I could get this far if I didn’t like Pokemon?” For some reason it sounded like that question offended him.
Well at least that was something. “Then why don’t you want to help these Pokemon?”
He had quite the scowl on his face. “They aren’t my Pokemon.”
I stood up abruptly, my chair noisily scraping against the ground. Both of them startled slightly, and I noted how both of them went for the pokeballs. “So you don’t like Pokemon. You like your Pokemon. And I bet if one of your Pokemon couldn’t battle anymore, you’d get rid of them, wouldn’t you.”
For a second it looked like he wanted to argue, to immediately deny it, but he hesitated. That was more of an answer than anything that he could possibly say. “It doesn’t matter. We’re all retired.”
“What about you, Diantha?” I suddenly snapped, turning my attention to her. “What if something happened and your Gardevoir was never able to battle again. What would you do with her?”
She frowned a bit, and her brow furrowed slightly. This was clearly not something she had never even thought about. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
“Obviously you replace her,” Aymond said, sounding exasperated. “If you wanted to keep your position, of course you’d need a new Pokemon.”
“But does that mean she would have to get rid of her,” I questioned.
“Yes,” he snapped. “There’s no point in wasting the resources on a Pokemon that can’t battle. You might as well just sell them off to one of those damn fashion show nonsense things.”
“What a sad way to see things,” I said, frowning at the man.
“It’s how the world works. If you aren’t strong enough, you have strong Pokemon. If you can’t have strong Pokemon, then what the hell is the point in even living.” He was ranting now, clearly this was an argument that he had had in the past. “You young Trainers are all the same. Don’t understand how the real world works. Just this cheap facade the Association’s built. You’ve not seen true battles. Never known war.”
I glanced at Diantha, who still had a bit of a thoughtful look on her face, but also didn’t look to agree with the man. However, before I had a chance to speak, he continued.
“The last war was barely twenty years ago. You think another won’t happen in your lifetime?” He was actually looking quite upset, angry at either me for bringing this up, or the world for how things were going. “The world can’t go more than fifty years without massive war.”
While that was interesting information, it didn’t change the fact that there was something worrying about what he was saying. “So you don’t want to help Pokemon?”
He scoffed, shaking his head. “Not if there’s nothing to gain from it.” And he meant that, too. He truly believed that. I could tell from the look on his face that he really believed that there was no point if he didn’t get anything.
Silence fell after those words. I wanted to say something, continue the argument, make him see that he was wrong, but I stopped myself. This was a pointless argument. He wasn’t worth the effort. I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Then it seems this conversation is over, as our values are far too different. Goodbye Aymond. Diantha.” I turned and walked back towards the train station.
Aymond had a few more words to say as I walked away, but I didn’t listen, making my way back to the train station. That was an extremely annoying conversation, although I did find out some interesting information. People knew that Lysandre was in charge of Team Flare, but didn’t care. Also there were wars? I hadn’t heard anything about wars since coming here. Probably something that just slipped everyone's minds, since it was common knowledge.
I pulled out my phone, sending Valerie a text. ‘Your uncle is a prick. I don’t think we can expect any help from him.’ How the hell does someone like that become a fairy type master? Wait, the gym might not have been a fairy type one before Valerie.
Ah. I was pacing. That meant I was really frustrated. I only ever paced absentmindedly when I was really upset. Damn I had been so upset at that old man's words that I hadn’t even gotten Diantha’s opinion. That was stupid of me. She didn’t seem to completely agree with him, but she didn’t argue.
Oh, and here’s Diantha. I suppose she followed after me. But I hardly paid attention to her. I needed to get this pacing out of my system before I went back and decked that old man. I didn’t understand how people could live in this world and not love Pokemon. How can they not be excited to see all these intelligent little creatures running around and not try and be their friends?
Thankfully Diantha seemed fine to simply stand and wait for me to calm down. “I’m sorry,” I said after a moment. “Those types of people really get under my skin.”
She was quiet for a moment. “What types of people?”
“The kind that would look at a sick child, and do nothing because it doesn’t benefit them.” I tried to keep my tone even, but I still wasn’t calm.
“That’s a bit harsh, I think. He just doesn’t want to deal with this,” she argued, waving her hand vaguely.
“Oh I know the type. I’ve seen so many of them,” I said, taking another deep breath. “I already didn’t like him because he forced Valerie to replace him, all because he didn’t want the Gym Leader position to leave the family. But it’s the way he talks. The way he does things. All he cares about is what other people can do for him.”
“A lot of older people think like that,” Diantha said with a shrug.
“That doesn’t make it better,” I said slowly, finally regaining my composure. In one motion, I sat down on a bench and pulled Eevee out of my hood, putting her in my lap. Petting her was a good way to calm myself down. After a moment I started talking again, “This is my Eevee. Do you know how many battles we’ve gone through together?”
The little fox looked a bit nervous at the look Diantha gave her. “Can’t have been many… She doesn’t look strong.”
“The answer is none.” She blinked at me. “Eevee had Manepox when I took her in. I’ve cared for her this entire time because I wanted to help her, without ever having a thought that I would ever get anything back.”
Diantha flinched when I mentioned Manepox, probably being familiar with the disease, but she didn’t say anything.
“I can’t say it’s been easy, as she takes quite a bit more care and effort, but it’s all worth it. She won’t be able to really start training for five to seven more months, but that doesn’t matter. I took her in without any thought for that.” I wasn’t looking at Diantha, all my focus was on the Pokemon in my lap, gently rubbing my fingers through her fluffy mane. “I took her because she needed help, and I wanted to give it. Someday she might be strong, but there’s no guarantee. And it doesn’t matter, because she’s part of my family.” I looked up at Diantha, who had a complicated expression on her face. “Can you say the same?”
She frowned a bit. “I would never abandon my friends.”
“Even if they couldn’t fight? If one of them got Manepox, or something worse, would you take the time to care for them?” I pressed, trying to make her see what I was getting at.
“Yes,” she said firmly, frowning a bit at me as if annoyed that I would question her resolve.
“Well, Aymond wouldn’t,” I said simply. “That’s the type of man he is.”
“I-” she stopped, frowning a bit. Clearly she wanted to defend him, but I had gotten my point across. She had probably spent a lot more time with him and knew exactly what I was talking about. She sighed. “You could have at least tried to convince him.”
“That’s not how this is going to work,” I explained, shaking my head. “I might have been able to get him to help, but that’s not the kind of person I want anywhere near this. The moment it becomes more advantageous to sink the ship, he’ll be the first one knocking holes in the boat.”
She giggled a bit. “Wow. Sounds like you deal with a lot of assholes, huh?”
I let out a heavy sigh, but a smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “That’s putting it lightly.”
We both laughed a bit before falling into silence. It lasted for a moment and I focused on brushing out Eevee’s mane with my fingers. Dee usually took extra care to make sure that the few Pokemon in my group that had fluff were well brushed. She had made some attempts at brushing those in the wolf pack, but most of them saw the brush as some sort of affront to god.
“So, mister expert, I’m curious. What do you think your chances are of facing me in the upcoming League?” she asked, a smirk on her face.
I looked at her for a moment before smiling a bit. “Actually I wasn’t even planning on challenging the Elite Four.”
She blanched. “What? Why?”
“Not what I’m aiming for,” I said with a shrug.
“Wait… Then why are you participating?” She sounded so confused.
“There’s someone I need to beat, and I have to win in order to prove that I’m worthy of something,” I answered vaguely.
“Worthy of something?” she repeated, clearly having difficulty understanding what I was talking about.
“The Tapu of Alola gave me a task to win the League,” I explained with a bit of a smirk. It was interesting to watch her try and understand what I was talking about.
“And… Who do you have to beat?”
For some reason that seemed to dampen my mood quite a lot. “Andrew Yellow.”
She blinked several times. “The Yellow jerk? Why do you need to beat him?”
“Revenge for one of my Pokemon,” I said simply, and did my best to make it clear in my tone that I wasn’t going to elaborate.
Again we fell into silence as she spent some time processing what I had said. It was probably quite a shock to find out I didn’t plan to challenge the Elite Four, but there wasn’t a reason for me to. Well, maybe I would try and fight Malva, depending on how things went, but overall there wasn’t really a point. I didn’t want to be Champion.
“So,” Diantha suddenly broke the silence, folding her arms in front of her and looking at me.
I raised an eyebrow at her.
“How do I help?” she said, a bit of a smile on her face. “With your little Pokemon Reserve?”
I blinked at her. I had still been unsure if she wanted to participate, but I guess my little tantrum hadn’t put her off the project.
Chapter 24
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
Chapter Text
The conversation I had with Diantha was honestly quite interesting. She wanted to be involved, not just with financial support but also caring for the Pokemon. I guess I struck a nerve when I questioned Aymond on whether he liked Pokemon, only to point out that he only liked his own. Or it was the bit about me questioning what she would do with her Pokemon if they were no longer useful to her. While she didn’t show it much, I could tell the thought of that scenario upset her. What Aymond had suggested, that she just get rid of them, added to this.
But all of that wasn’t a problem.
The problem was what she wanted in return for her help.
Oh sure, her first request was reasonable. She wanted to name the organization. That was something I easily agreed to.
No, the problem was her second request.
“I’m just not sure that I can do that,” I admitted.
“Oh come now, it doesn’t even have to be this year. I just want to see you reach me. Properly.” She had a rather warm smile on her face. “You don’t even have to beat me, I just want to see you try.”
I sighed. “That would mean you want me to beat the Elite Four.”
She nodded. “Yes. I want to see how far you can get. You’ve shown so much potential, not just as a Trainer, but as someone who wants to change the world for the better. And I want to see where that goes.”
My thoughts were a bit jumbled. What she was offering didn’t really have any risk. She just wanted me to get to her level. Or at least near it. Eventually. That was really annoying, because I had planned to bail from Kalos the moment the League was over to head back to Alola. At least it would only be a few weeks… “Alright. Fine. I can at least try for that. But it’s just challenging you, and that’s it, right? No time limit?”
Her smile was significantly larger, though it looked a bit more mischievous. “As long as you keep trying.”
I sighed, rubbing my face. “Why does everyone keep wanting me to fight higher and higher?” I grumbled. Was that some sort of weird hangup from the games? Where the goal is moved ever further? Maybe some kind of upper power, like Arceus or the Mother. I just don’t understand it. My original goal was beating Andrew, which then became beating the League, and now it’s challenging the Champion. If something comes along and requires me to beat the Champion I’m gonna throw a fit.
Diantha seemed to find amusement in my turmoil as she giggled. “Isn’t that the point of life? To strive ever higher?”
My brow furrowed and I looked at her. “If that was the case, what does that mean for you? You’re at the top.”
The smile on her face slowly fell and she took on a more thoughtful expression. “I guess it does look like that, doesn’t it?” She shook her head. “I’m nowhere near the top. There are quite a few people above me.”
“Like Cynthia?” I questioned, wondering where the two of them stood.
She put her hand over her mouth to try not to laugh, but ended up letting out a soft snort. “No one can compare to Cynthia. She can take any Pokemon given to her and have it up to Champion level in no time. It’s scary how good she is at training.”
That actually raised some interesting questions. How did someone like Cynthia train their Pokemon? For that matter, how did Diantha? Before I even had the chance to ask, there was the noise of the train approaching. “I just don’t get it, honestly,” I said instead. “I don’t want to be at the top.”
“Well, you’ll have to change that way of thinking,” she said with a smile. “Anyways, I’ve business to get to.” She suddenly put out her hand. “Give me your phone.”
I hesitated for a few seconds before pulling out my phone and handing it over. “Okay.”
Her smile got a bit bigger. “Oh, you have a really old model,” she said as she input her contact details. “Like, from a decade ago.”
“It was a gift,” I explained.
“Man, I wish I had had something like this on my Journey. I remember the only way you had in order to call anyone was at Pokecenter terminals. Oh and that’s not even talking about those bulky Pokedexes. Recording battles with those was always a pain…” she reminisced for a moment before handing my phone back. “And then having to slot them in at Pokecenters so that they could download the footage… Such a hassle.”
I chuckled a bit, nodding. “Must have been annoying.”
Apparently just those words were enough to catch her attention that something was off. “Did you have something different during your Journey?”
Looking at her out of the corner of my eye, instead of answering I stood up. “I'll let Valerie know that you’re on board for helping. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”
She frowned at me, though I could tell she was fighting back a smile. “Hey, now I’m even more curious.”
“And I’m looking forward to whatever name you come up with,” I added with a bit of a smile. “Should be a good one, especially considering it will be known world-wide.”
Now she had a full-on playful sort of pout. It was honestly a flawless example of some sort of dashing damsels attempt at one, too. I could see why she was such a successful actress. The way that she was able to completely school and morph her expressions. “You’re really not gonna tell me?”
“See you around, Diantha,” I said, trying to keep my smile subdued and not laugh at her reaction as I boarded the train. When I sat down and looked out at the platform, she was still there. Arms folded and a pout on her face. That’s when I laughed. She had such a good reaction to being stonewalled like that.
The way that her expression shifted and she gave me a smile and a small wave was good evidence that she was a good sport about it.
Taking a look around, I made a note that there were a few people on board. Although from how few there were, I could understand why there was just one train car considering how few people seemed to use the train. Still had no idea what TMV stood for.
It was a quiet ride. No one was talking, and I wasn’t about to break the silence. So in the end, the ride was peaceful, with the only real noise being the sound of the train. That wasn’t the case when we got to the station. It was immediately loud, not for any real reason, just because of all the people. Large crowds tended to be like that.
As I looked around, I could see that most of the people here were Trainers. I was really glad that the age for Trainers was actually reasonable, rather than allowing preteens a powerful friend and then shoving them out at the world. It looked like a lot of people were also travelling to Laverre, so the car was mostly full when I actually got on. The shift in movement of people in crowds was always an interesting sight to me.
Of course, I got a few looks from those already aboard, but that wasn’t new. Most of them looked… curious. Adria was probably right about how I appeared. Maybe I did stand out too much? Did I need a disguise? Actually now that I thought about it, that would probably be fun. Although as I thought about it, all I’d really need to do is change my coat.
The rest of the journey was uneventful, though I did notice quite a few more people than usual standing inside the gym. There was the standard fare of protective girls that I was fairly certain worked at the gym or apprenticed here, or something, but also a lot of new Trainers. That reminded me I needed to finish my circuit eventually.
I sighed as I nodded to Allie, ever present behind the counter. I couldn’t tell if she noticed me or not, but she didn’t show any signs of acknowledging me. Rounding a corner I came across an argument already in progress. “-don’t care what you have to say about it. I’m already helping.”
Valerie was standing in the hallway, having a rather heated discussion with who I assumed was her uncle. My assumption was proven correct by the reply. “Don’t take that tone with me; I am just trying to help. I just need to know how you think this helps the gym.”
“This has nothing to do with the gym!” she shouted, clearly repressing the urge to throw her phone.
“It has everything to do with my gym. I worked too hard for too long to-”
Valerie cut him off. “It’s not your gym anymore! You forced me to take it, remember? Pulled me from my home and all the people I cared about.”
“I did what was best for you,” he responded, somehow keeping his voice level the whole time.
“You did what was best for your precious little gym. Not me. You’ve never done anything for anyone else if it didn’t benefit you,” she practically snarled. “Jace is right. You’re nothing but a prick.”
“Don’t throw me under the bus,” I interjected, adding myself to the conversation. “I was just quoting Diantha.” I shifted blame and threw Diantha under the bus in my stead. Sure she might have been talking about Lysandre, but I technically wasn’t lying about saying that she said it.
“What is that man doing in my gym?” Aymond growled, actually seeming to lose his temper for a moment.
“It’s not your gym anymore!” Valerie shouted, holding the phone so the man couldn’t see me. “He’s staying at my gym, because I am helping him.”
“Valerie, you-”
“I am so disgusted with you.” That seemed to shut him up. “I will be submitting a formal complaint to the Association for what you’ve said to me, and emphasise that I don’t think you should be allowed to mentor Trainers or Pokemon anymore.” Every word she said had such a biting edge to it that I had never seen from her. It was so unexpected that even I had no words. “You are no longer allowed in my gym,” she finished coldly. That seemed to stun the man into further silence, and she hung up before he could regain his composure. I watched as she tapped out several buttons, most likely blocking Aymond from being able to contact her.
That really surprised me. Clearly that argument had been going on for a long time now. Hell it could have been soon after I left that table to come back. Valerie just looked so upset.
She called someone quickly, trying to regain her composure. When someone answered, she spoke in a much calmer voice. “Allie, please cancel my show for today and push back my schedule.”
There was a pause, clearly the poor secretary was shocked. “I… Alright. Are you okay, Val?”
“Yes. No.” She paused. “Just…” She took in a shuddering breath, and let it out slowly. “I’m too frazzled to do anything.”
Allie apparently responded nonverbally, as Valerie soon hung up and began taking deep breaths to try and calm herself down. Tears were pricking at the corners of her eyes. She was absolutely seething. So angry that she wanted to cry, and glaring at her phone as if she could make it explode if she glared at it hard enough.
“Stupid old man,” she grumbled.
I nodded slowly in agreement. We remained silent for a few moments as I waited for her to calm down a bit. Eventually she seemed fine enough, putting her phone away with a heavy sigh. “I know mostly what that was about, but do you want to talk about it?”
She looked at me for a moment before letting out a long breathy sigh. “Well, first he spent an hour complaining about you.”
A snort escaped me.
The corner of her mouth twitched up a bit. “Honestly, that was mostly what he had to say.”
“So he was just complaining about me?” I asked, my brow furrowing a bit.
“Yes. He is convinced that you’re some naive fool. That you don’t know how the world works. That your idea is foolish, and that better men have tried and failed.” She had a bit of a smile on her face as she spoke.
I scoffed. “Sounds like he had a lot to say.”
She nodded. “A lot more than that, but I honestly stopped listening. But he made it clear that he doesn’t like you.”
“Well the feeling is mutual,” I said with a bit of a nod.
“What did you even say to him to make him that upset?” she asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone get under his skin like that.”
“I told him that the way he views the world, where nothing mattered if it didn’t benefit him, was sad,” I summarized the conversation. “And it is. Diantha is… different, but she also doesn’t have the best view of the world.”
She gave me a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”
“They are both firm believers that might makes right,” I said with a bit of a sigh.
Valerie furrowed her brow. “So they don’t care because they’re strong?”
“Not quite,” I said with a slight shake of my head. “They don’t care because we’re not strong enough, according to them.”
Now she was frowning. “So they won’t help because we’re weaker than them?” she asked incredulously. Clearly that made her just as annoyed as whatever her uncle had said.
“Not necessarily.” I smiled a bit. “Diantha wants to help. Although she has some… requirements. She wants to name it, for one.”
Her mood immediately switched. “Well, that’s not a problem!” she said excitedly. “Diantha helping, even just endorsing us, would be huge!” She had stepped forward, now flailing her costume wings a bit.
“It is,” I agreed, nodding. “But it makes things annoying for me, since now I have to try and fight her.”
She stared at me, her brow furrowing. “Do you not want to fight her?”
I thought about that for a moment before shrugging. “Not really? I just needed to win the League.”
Her expression went blank for a moment, staring at me. “You make that sound easy.”
I laughed. “Not easy, but I’m confident that I can do it.”
“And what about the Elite Four?” she asked.
That caused me to pause, frowning a bit. “I’m not sure,” I said with a shrug. “But she said I just have to try, not actually win.”
She was giving me quite a skeptical look. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone talk so nonchalantly about challenging the Champion.”
I shrugged again, and then realized I had a question. “Hey, what type of Trainer is your uncle? From his attitude I just cannot see him being a fairy type Trainer.”
A soft little scoff escaped her. “No, all his Pokemon are poison type.”
“Fitting,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “Considering how toxic his world view is.” Though that also sounded like an absolutely nasty type of gym to face. Though Koga and Roxie were also poison type Trainers, so he was probably on the same level. I really didn’t want to think about Koga… Sure, there was a chance he wasn’t a Team Rocket member, but I’d still rather not meet the man either way.
She nodded. “Yeah, when a new Gym Leader takes over, they can either keep the same theme, or change it to an available one. Since I mostly had fairy types, that was the most convenient for me.”
“Available ones? So Gyms can’t double up?” I asked, though I knew that was the case, it was still interesting to hear about it.
“Nope. Gym’s can’t be the same type in the same region. Well, at least the major gyms can’t. If we did that with all gyms, the minor ones wouldn’t be able to compete.”
Minor Gyms. I’d completely forgotten that those were a thing… Maybe I should check one of those out at some point? Without delving down that train of thought I decided to change the subject. “What were you up to before the phone call?” I looked past her towards the door that led to the wolf pack.
“Oh, I was familiarizing myself with the dogs!” she said excitedly. “The older ones are still nervous, but they don’t mind my presence. And thanks to Ren I-” she immediately stopped talking and spun around. “I forgot Ren in there!” she shouted as she ran towards the door.
I laughed as I followed after her. By the time I caught up, she was still struggling with the door; her costume really made things like this difficult. So I helped out and pulled the door open. Everything looked fine at first glance, though my eyes were immediately drawn to Keo, who was sitting suspiciously close to Ren and they were very purposefully avoiding eye contact. And the both of them looked a bit rough. One of Ren’s ribbons was frozen.
The rest of the room looked to have recently put their attention elsewhere. What was clearly a crowd was quickly dispersing. I stepped over, looking down at Keo, who looked absolutely rough. Her fur was disheveled and one of her eyes was a bit swollen judging by how she was squinting. Clearly she had lost whatever scuffle had occurred. I didn’t immediately address the problem, instead opening my coat and letting the plethora of travelers out of their pokeballs.
The wolf pack members immediately went towards Malevolence, most likely to get some sort of report on what had been going on. The members of Team Speed Shell were keen to escape from whatever sort of scolding they expected me to give to Keo, and Diancie followed after them curiously. Cara stood beside me, folding her arms across her chest.
Valerie did not have the same restraint as me. “Ren.” Her tone was already one of disappointment. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” he said. “We just had a little battle.”
“And why would you do that?” Valerie asked, her eyes narrowing.
“She’s weak,” he said, his tone rather steady. “She was boasting that she could have beaten me, so I proved her wrong.”
I looked down at Keo, who had decided to just glare at the ground. She was clearly frustrated. She was the weakest member of Team Speed Shell, and it aggravated her. That isn’t to say she was weak, but she hadn’t seen any growth recently. That was my fault. I’d been so focused on the wolf pack that I haven’t been paying attention to anything else.
“Alright…” I knelt down and scooped Keo up, cradling her in my arms. Immediately I felt her tense, and she inhaled rather sharply, a sign that she was about to breathe frost at me. I just arched an eyebrow at her and she stopped, letting out a deep sigh of frosty breath instead. “Let’s go to the Pokecenter.”
Valerie sighed, giving Ren a pointed look. “Sorry about this,” she said. “Even after getting trounced so thoroughly, it seems he’s still got some nasty superiority complex.”
“It’s fine,” I replied as I settled Keo into my arms. “Losing to Dee probably frustrated him.” I looked down at the Sylveon. “But that doesn’t mean he’s justified in taking it out on anyone else.”
Ren at least had the good mind to look a bit ashamed at his actions. His ribbons drooped a bit as I took a good look at him, scrutinizing his appearance. It was clear Keo had not gone down without putting up a heck of a fight, judging by the scratches, bite marks, and frost that covered him.
I looked up at Valerie. “I’ll return shortly.” I turned to the door, and Cara was there opening it. I almost laughed at her eagerness to accompany me. She had expressed being upset at me when I left yesterday to go with Dee to the Pokecenter and left her behind. I felt like I was her ward or something. Like she couldn’t let me out of her sight. It was kind of nice how protective she seemed of me, even though I had proven I could get myself out of any situation I’d been in so far.
It was quiet as we walked the halls, and no one spoke until we had exited the building. “Are you mad at me?” Keo asked softly.
I glanced down at her. “No. Why would I be mad?”
“Cus I got in a fight,” she mumbled.
“I expect you to get into fights,” I said softly. “It’s how you’re going to get stronger.” I shifted her a bit in order to rub her head. “And besides, I’m sure Ren started it.”
“He did,” she grumbled. “He said Dee just got lucky… That there’s no way a nurse could beat him. A lot of the others were getting upset…”
“He egged you on,” I said with a nod. From what I knew, Ren was probably trying to get them to fight him so he could prove his superiority. While he had taken my warning before the fight seriously, I’m sure he thought he could take anyone that had been in that room. He probably could have. “Seems he’s got a fragile ego.”
A sort of chuff of a laugh escaped both Keo and Cara. “He is very full of himself,” Cara said with a nod. “I know the type.”
I nodded in agreement. “Don’t take him so seriously,” I said as I ruffled the top of her head, which got a few disgruntled noises out of her. “The Pokemon you are going to fight in the future are going to be a lot stronger than him.”
There was a moment of silence. “How am I supposed to beat them, if I can’t even beat him?”
“Because you’re still a first stage.” She seemed to bristle a bit at my words. “He’s a second. When you evolve, your power is going to spike.”
“When?” she practically growled her question.
“Well our first shot will be when we go to Snowbelle,” I explained. It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision, but I felt like I had made Keo wait long enough. I promised that I would help her, and part of that was getting her to evolve, so I should at least start putting effort into that promise. “We’ll be heading there next to fight Wulfric. We just have to settle the wolf pack in first and get the Pokemon Reserve going. Do you think you can wait a bit longer?”
She grumbled out her response, “I can wait…”
“I’m glad,” I said, petting her softly and fixing the hair that I had mussed up. “I’ll try and get in more training for everyone in the meantime, alright?”
“Alright,” she grumbled some more into my arm after that, but I couldn’t tell exactly what she said. Although I was fairly certain she was cursing Ren.
It was Evelyne at the counter of the Pokecenter and she gave me a big smile. She definitely looked much better than the last time I’d come in. “Hello, Jason,” she said.
Looking around, there were a lot more people in the room this time, and a Wigglytuff across the room returning some Trainers pokeballs to them. “Afternoon, Evelyne. This one got in a bit of a scuffle, and-”
She gasped, her eyes going wide. “That’s an Alolan Vulpix!” she said excitedly, though she managed some professionalism and kept her voice low. Not low enough though, as quite a lot of people looked over. “I wondered what that white puffball was that I’d seen.”
“Yes, this is Keo.” I put her down on the counter and pulled out her pokeball. I realized at that moment that Keo couldn’t actually stand up on her own and was struggling just to sit. No wonder she hadn’t complained when I'd carried her. Ren really did a number on her…
“These are some really nasty injuries…” she muttered as she started looking the white vulpine over. “But she looks to be healing nicely… What happened?”
“She and her old Trainer got attacked. The Trainer's parents got rid of her. She was going through rehabilitation when I took her in,” I summarized Keo’s backstory.
“And you… You still took her in? Even with these injuries?” she asked, giving me a rather odd look, as if she was just now seeing me for the first time.
“Yes?” I questioned, wondering why she would even ask before I remembered the kind of world this was, and the ingrained thoughts they had grown up with. “I know most people wouldn’t have, but her injuries change nothing about who she is or what she wants. And she wants to be strong.”
The Joy had quite an interesting smile on her face. “See, this is why I think you can really do it.”
I gave her a quizzical look. “Hm?”
“Your reserve,” she said, her smile grew a bit. “You have this sort of way of talking, lofty ambitions I think the Elder said, but your actions really back up your words. You really believe in what you’re trying to do.”
A bit of a chuckle escaped me. “Lofty ambitions, eh? I guess that’s true.”
She nodded. “Alright. Do you also want me to take a look at your Lucario?”
I nodded. “It’s a good idea, since we’re here. Also, I wanted my Eevee to get a checkup as well,” I said as I pulled the little sleeping fox out of my hood. Eevee made a sort of squeak in surprise at suddenly being dislodged from my hood.
“Oh? Ah- this is the one who…” Evelyne’s voice trailed off as she looked at the little thing.
“Yes,” I confirmed.
Evelyne nodded and gestured for me to follow. “Easy enough to do.”
As we made our way into the back, she gave a quick knock on the door to the inner Joy waiting room. The new Joy gave a smile and a nod after opening the door. She gave me a bit of a puzzled look, but apparently decided it wasn’t important. She wasn’t a Joy I recognized, but I wasn’t entirely confident that I even could recognize all of the Joy’s.
Evelyne led me back into another one of the healing rooms- I realized I had no idea what the proper lingo was. Could this be considered an operating room? It was definitely a lot more than just an examination room. Usually I would brush off such a question, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask. “What exactly are these machines called?”
“Ah, it’s just a recovery machine. Not a very inspired name, but it’s accurate. There’s quite a few of them.” She lifted the lid of the machine and looked back at me.
“Ah, right.” I returned all three Pokemon before handing their pokeballs over. She gave me a bit of a smile as she loaded them up. Then she slid into the chair and up to the computer. She entered a long string of code, which I realized must have been the password. I was so preoccupied with the machine last time I hadn’t noticed her input it.
Saying the password was long was one heck of an understatement.
Rather than being a word or series of letters and numbers, it must be a paragraph. Maybe something like an oath? I don’t know why oath was the first thing to come to mind. Maybe I was thinking about the hippocratic oath? Did this world even have that concept? “Did you have to take some sort of oath to become a nurse?”
She froze, her entire body going tense before she slowly turned her head to look at me. “How do you know about that?”
I blinked at her, a bit caught off guard by her reaction to my question. “It was a guess. Considering the importance of the recovery machine and how to use it, I expected that there had to be some sort of… thing attached.”
“Yes, but you used oath specifically,” her eyes narrowed a bit at me as she spoke. “I’ve been asked about that in the past before, but no one has ever used the word oath.”
My brow furrowed a bit. “It’s that big of a deal?”
“A Joy found to have broken our clan's oath is stripped of the Joy name and imprisoned. Usually for life,” she explained slowly. “Although it usually just means they’re confined to a compound and never allowed to interact with Pokemon. Relegated to research, or teaching in most cases.”
“Huh…” I rubbed at my chin, attempting to scratch at my nonexistent beard. “So it’s an oath on your clan name.” From how she described it, it definitely wasn’t some sort of weird mystical thing, just like the hippocratic oath. You still had to be caught breaking it in order to be punished. And there was probably a ton of scrutiny amongst Joy’s. I was tempted to ask what the oath contained, but from her reaction that seemed very much a secret. “So the passcode for the recovery machine is most likely the oath like I thought,” I mused.
She seemed to visibly bristle from that comment and I realized I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud.
“I don’t know it,” I said hurriedly. “And I wasn’t watching what you were typing. I just took note of its length and made an assumption.”
She relaxed slightly. “If it were anyone else, I would probably have to notify the Elder… but… since it is you, I think that’s fine…”
“Not like I even want to learn how to use this thing,” I said with a nod at the recovery machine. “I’ve enough bullshit in my head. I don’t need to learn a programming language on top of that.”
A snort escaped her and she shook her head. “I’d say it’s not that hard once you get used to it, but I don’t want to encourage you.”
I laughed and shrugged. “You don’t have to worry. I have way too much on my plate as it is. Pokemon Reserve. Gym battles. League. Elite Four fights. Champion challenges… And that’s just the stuff I’m worrying about here in Kalos.”
She nodded as she turned to the monitor and the lights dimmed. “That does sound like quite a lot.”
Despite my words, I found myself quite focused on the code. It wasn’t in english. In fact, it wasn’t written in a language I knew. No, wait. I did know what this was written in… Unown. The language was based in the ancient script that were Unown. But there were so many more than the twenty eight I knew of. Doing a quick count I could discern… sixty four.
Wait, was this written in some sort of hexadecimal? A language based on hexadecimal, using letters instead of numbers? No, some of those had to be numbers…
That realization alone completely shifted my comprehension of what I was looking at. I couldn’t tell what I was looking at exactly, but I knew what I was seeing. “That’s Cara,” I muttered as I leaned in a bit.
“Hm? Yes? That’s the Lucario’s name?” Suddenly her hands stopped and she looked back at me, her suspicion once again spiking. “How can you read this? I thought you said you weren’t interested?”
“There’s nothing else to look at,” I defended. “And I know quite a bit of Unown script.”
Her head tilted to the side. “Really?” she asked, with an almost incredulous tone. “That’s a pretty damn obscure research subject.”
I shrugged. “They’re Pokemon.” That was the only argument I needed, and she apparently didn’t need anymore of a reason.
Although she still had a bit of a suspicious look on her face as she turned back to the screen. “Maybe I shouldn’t have let you in here,” she mumbled.
“I can leave if you’d like,” I offered with a bit of a laugh. “I don’t want you getting in trouble.”
She waved a hand vaguely, which barely slowed her typing. “It’s fine.” Both of her hands were now on the keyboard and text was flying once again. “You’re way too smart for your own good."
I snorted in response, but didn’t otherwise comment. Instead I continued to watch. The transition from Cara to Keo was so seamless that it actually took me a moment to realize that the text was about a different Pokemon. I hadn’t noticed any transition. She had an absolutely absurd amount of red. And there was a section that was just… missing. There was text there, but it was like it was giving an error. I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t know how I knew that.
What I did know was that the error was her missing leg. Interesting that it knew there was supposed to be something there. She had a few more chunks of that weird error type code, which was probably her tails. There was something rather…sad to see those bits. The data, whatever this machine was quantifying as her being, knew there should have been something there but didn’t know how to process it.
The transition from Keo to Eevee was, once again, seamless. But there was something else off about it. There was something wrong. My brow furrowed as I tried to figure out what it was. Was this because of Manepox? Or her lack of energy? I didn’t know how to properly explain what was wrong, but it was something. Maybe not exactly wrong, but off? Thinking about it was giving me a headache. Like it was something I should know, but couldn’t recall.
Evelyne seemed completely unbothered, so it must have been expected. But that also caused another thought to pop into my head. How was I able to understand this at all? I wasn’t reading it, that’s for sure. It was like my knowledge ability thing was able to parse out what the information meant, but not what it said.
Honestly this knowledge thing was so confusing. Sometimes I felt the information it gave me was strange. At least, when I realized it was feeding me information. Like how I can tell what a Pokemon’s nutritional needs are when I study them for a moment. What the heck is that about? Am I reading some sort of info sheet of them, that I understand but can’t actually see?
Arceus, I need a manual.
Or maybe like a system in some kind of anime. This world was close enough, right? Could I have that? I focused for a moment, trying really hard to bring up some sort of status screen, but when nothing happened I just felt silly. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. I probably would have noticed something like that ahead of time. What would it even display if I had one? It’s not like I really had any special abilities aside from this knowledge thing. Maybe the level of Pokemon? Although levels didn’t seem to be a thing, it would be nice to have some sort of value to quantify power scaling.
It all seemed rather scuffed, but a Pokemon’s power was clearly tied to how well they used energy and how much they actually had in them. It made them stronger, tougher, faster, and allowed them to use moves. How did energy and moves even work? Kukui specialized in moves, right? Maybe I could talk to him about it. Although he was probably just focused on Z-Moves…
While I had been lost in thought, Evelyne finished up. “Your Vulpix needs a bit of spray and a second run through,” she said as she got up. “Her past injuries have all healed nicely, which is good news.”
“What about Eevee?” I asked, concerned about that weird feeling I got when looking at her code.
“Hm?” She looked at me with a bit of a puzzled expression. “She’s fine? Her energy channels are recovering nicely, all things considered.”
I frowned a bit. “I see…” Maybe that was just an Eevee thing? Considering the vast amount of differing evolution paths, it probably just made her code look strange. It’s not like I knew what it was even supposed to look like.
“Why?” she questioned, that suspicious look on her face returning as she slowly got Keo’s pokeball from the machine.
“I-” I hesitated. What could I even say in this situation? “Something just felt off. Maybe I’m just being overly worried…”
Her expression softened. “She’s been through a lot. I can understand why you’d be so concerned.” She released Keo onto a table.
The ice fox looked in much better shape now, though I could now see the more serious injuries. She looked around and then immediately grimaced as she realized what was about to happen. The way she tensed up when Joy brought over the little spray bottle reminded me of the way the sprays seemed to sting in the anime. And from the way she whimpered the moment the spray came into contact with her injuries confirmed their accuracy.
Evelyne gently soothed the areas around the injuries with her hand, speaking softly to Keo as she did. It was the classic “There there” and “It’s okay” that I would expect. Keo didn’t really seem to be soothed by her words, but accepted them and the gentle touches. It was rather interesting that all Pokemon seemed to consider Joy’s in high regard.
I briefly wondered what was in potions. In the game they were just magic healing items, but in real life they had to be made of stuff. Right? “Is the recipe for potions something that’s secret?”
She glanced at me and then nodded. “Yes. We’re not allowed to talk about it. Potion sales are how the Joy Clan makes their money.”
“Ah, so you make and sell them to the Pokemarts.” That was interesting. Though they looked very painful… It brought another question to mind. “Do Pokemon ever attack nurses?” I asked after Joy returned Keo to her ball and placed it back in the machine.
“Sometimes,” she began, “Though it’s really rare, especially for Pokemon with a Trainer. Some wild or recently caught Pokemon can get a bit bitey depending on their species, but for the most part they know we’re here to help.”
“Interesting…” I mumbled.
“What is?” she asked as she turned to me, wearing that familiar puzzled expression.
“That they know you’re safe.” I scratched at my nonexistent beard. Why hadn’t I grown any facial hair? Irrelevant. “That would imply it’s either an instinctual thing that Pokemon know, or it’s a taught behavior. Both options would be extremely interesting.”
She paused in her actions, mulling over what I had just said. “I’ve never thought about it,” she admitted after a moment. “I don’t think it ever came up when I was in school… Hm…”
“Something to think on, I suppose,” I said with a shrug.
“The way you think is fascinating,” she mumbled as she sat down at the computer. “Is that why you’re a Pokemon Expert and not a Professor?”
“Uh… I honestly don’t really know the difference.” It had been something that I wondered about sometimes. “Maybe it’s because I don’t have a laboratory? Although Sycamore said that an Expert was like a Professor…”
Her brow furrowed a bit as she started typing again. “I don’t know the difference either. But there are a lot fewer Experts than there are Professors.”
Again, that was interesting. Though expected, considering there were only three Experts in Kalos. Wait, was Gale still an Expert? My entire body went rigid as I realized something much more important and pulled out my phone. I had no new messages. I had gotten so used to not having any, that I had forgotten something.
Going through my contacts I sent a quick message to Emma. Or at least I tried to. I spent several moments trying to draft a proper message. Things had always been awkward between us… Or maybe that was just from my side? I had been overly suspicious of her, with good reason, but finding out it wasn’t really her fault made me feel… unsure. ‘Checking in to make sure you’re doing alright. Haven’t heard anything from you or the Association since the incident.’
With that done I put my phone away. I couldn’t really blame myself for completely forgetting about Emma; to be fair, I got distracted. And I didn’t really like her. But I guess it was technically part of my job to keep in contact, so I had to at least check in. It was actually strange that she hadn’t messaged me at all. Maybe she got reassigned and they forgot about me? That would be nice for a time, but probably not. Besides, I liked the easy money that came with doing their tasks.
Joy hadn’t even finished with Keo’s second comb through when I got a reply. ‘Apologies, Expert Jason. Emma, and the vast majority of Association staff, are in a sort of coma due to psychic backlash. I am unsure why you weren’t notified of this. If you would like, I can pass a message on to the Association, or you may contact your Liaison for further information.’
I frowned, staring at my phone for a moment as I reread the message a few times. ‘Unfortunately, Emma was-’ I deleted that last word- ‘is my association liaison, so I will have to request that you notify them.’ Before hitting send, I tacked on to the end, ‘May I ask who this is?’
‘Oh dear, that is most unfortunate. I’m not sure how you fell out of the loop, but considering all of the problems going on at the Association, it’s not surprising. My name is Kaitline. I’m Emma’s sister.’
‘You didn’t know she was a Liaison to an Expert?’ I responded, probably with far too much suspicion. Thankfully I couldn’t convey tone over text. Although, Emma had never mentioned a sister. Then again, she had never mentioned her Pokemon until I brought it up.
The reply took a long time, and I wondered if they had simply put away their phone and was about to do the same when I got another message; ‘We never talk about work.’
Curious. I’m sure there was a story there, but I wanted to verify that this was a person who actually knew Emma. ‘Are her Pokemon doing alright?’ I probed, both out of genuine concern and hoping that I was just being paranoid.
‘Oh yes. Pudd and Kit are fine. I’m looking after them while she’s in the hospital.’ There was a moment before another text came in. ‘Actually. I’m having some difficulty with Pudd. Since you’re a Pokemon Expert, do you think you could help?’
“All done,” Evelyne suddenly said which jolted me out of my focus on the phone. Her brow furrowed a bit as she looked at me. “Bad news?”
“Were you aware that most of those from the Association incident are in a coma?” I asked. ‘I’d be happy to help. What seems to be the problem?’ I replied over text. Probably a bit rude to text while talking with Joy, but this was fairly important.
“I did. Did you not?” she looked a bit concerned at that.
“I didn’t. No one told me,” I said with a sigh. “My Liaison, Emma, is in a coma. And no one told me.” Even if I wasn’t really fond of the woman, I didn’t really know the real her. And I couldn’t help but feel bad. It felt a little like it was my fault, even if I knew it wasn’t.
Evelyne looked horrified at my words. “What the fuck is the Association doing?!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. “So you’ve just been… Unsupervised?” I raised an eyebrow at her at the wording, but she continued. “Wait, is that why you’re rushing this reserve thing?”
I blinked. “No, I-”
But she interrupted me. “That makes total sense. You’ve got no Association oversight, so you’re doing something big that would normally get you so much scrutiny from them.” She was pacing back and forth. “But they’re so distracted that they forgot about you… And you’re taking advantage.”
“No. I just found out-”
Apparently wasn’t about to let me start talking. “The Association would try and stop this. So we have to do this quick…”
I decided to let her ramble and partially tuned her out, barely paying attention as I turned my focus back to my phone. ‘Pudd is acting strange. Hardly eats. Mostly just stares into space.’
‘They’re depressed.’ I responded. ‘His trainer is in a precarious situation. You need to assure them that things are fine, and that Emma is going to be okay. Maybe take them to see her if you can.’
A simple ‘Alright.’ reply came and I put away my phone.
Looking at Evelyne, she was still going on some sort of conspiracy theory about things and I wondered how she got so off track.
“I’m heading out,” I said as I retrieved the three pokeballs from the machine.
“Ah-” she stopped whatever stream of nonsense was flowing out of her mouth. “Okay. Right. Lots to do,” she said with a nod.
The two of us made our way back out to the front, though she didn’t enter the main room. Apparently they tried not to show that there were multiple Nurse Joy’s working. It ruined the magic, apparently.
I wished the other Joy who was at the desk a good day before making my way back to the gym. The main room was emptier than when I left; apparently Allie had made an announcement that Valerie was unable to battle today, so a lot of Trainers left.
Valerie was still in the wolf pack room, sitting on the ground. Much to my shock, she wasn’t wearing her costume. She still had on a rather ornate looking kimono, that was a lot of pleasant shades of pinks and purples, but it was weird seeing her out of costume. Ren was not in sight, and I figured she either sent him somewhere or put him back in his ball.
I released Cara, Keo, and Eevee after closing the door, giving Eevee to Cara to go and tuck into a comfortable spot. Then I made my way over to Valerie. There were three members of the wolf pack wrestling in front of her and she was watching them with an amused smile.
Sitting down next to her, I was quick to ask, “How you doing?”
She seemed to mull over the question for a moment. “Better,” was what she decided to go with.
“Do you want a distraction? Or just sit?” I asked, leaning back a bit on my hands as I watched the dogs. It was Dally, Grubby, and Dilly who were wrestling.
Valerie just looked puzzled. “What kind of distraction?”
“We need to start looking at land,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Somewhere near here, preferably.”
“Oh.” She seemed to mull this over for a moment. “How much land?”
“A lot. Like, a ridiculous amount,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. “Hundred acres, maybe?”
She balked. “That would cost a fortune.”
“That would be the minimum. Honestly, the more the better. We have to assume maybe ten to twenty Pokemon an acre, and we’re planning on thousands.” I looked over at her, and she just had this far off look. “How do we get that much land?”
Her brow furrowed. “I… I’m not sure…” she said with a sigh. “I know some people I could ask, but that would be a problem because…” her voice trailed off as if she realized something mid sentence. “Wait!” She suddenly stood up. “This is for a reserve! I know exactly who to ask!”
“Who?” But she didn’t answer and instead ran off towards the door. I frowned a bit. Well, hopefully that would be fine. While she did that, I decided there was something I needed to do. “Diancie!” I called out.
Across the room her head turned before she rapidly spun towards - and practically shot overtop - me, a big smile on her face. “Yes?”
I smiled at her, reaching up to her and she grasped my hand. “Need your help with something. We’re going to do a test.”
Her head tilted a bit. “Does it involve throwing rocks?”
I snorted. “No.” She frowned. “But I need your Gravity.”
Suddenly she smiled and her eyes seemed to glint in sudden mirth. “Oh? That sounds fun!”
“It does, right?” I agreed with a chuckle. “Head on over to where we were training over there and I’ll be right over.” I barely finished speaking before she shot across the room back over to the roughened area.
I looked around for a moment before spotting Hate and making my way over to her. She was lounging in the pile of blankets and pillows that I had laid out to sleep. I never bothered picking them up. When she realized I was coming towards her she suddenly sat up and looked at me expectantly.
“Gather everyone who wants to stay with me,” I said slowly, glancing around the room.
She sat up a bit straighter. “You’re going to choose now?”
“I’m going to give them a test,” I said before turning and walking back towards Diancie.
It took several minutes for them all to gather, but dang. It would be easier to list off who wasn’t in this group. Most of the wolf pack was now sitting in front of me. They had all arranged themselves in lines, probably something they practiced a lot. Like some sort of canine military lineup.
“I know you all want to come with me, and I will take everyone that wants to. But I can’t take anyone who isn’t committed.” I pulled one of the marking spray cans that I had gotten and drew a line right at the edge of the effect. “This is your chance.” I started to walk back towards Diancie, who was a good distance away now, and turned back to face the group that was now a good thirty feet away. “All you have to do… is try to get to me.”
With that I sat down. The large group continued to watch me, and I nodded as I gestured towards them to start. They rushed forward, and those in the front immediately ate dirt. Then those behind them slammed into the wall of unmoving dogs in front of them. Those that weren’t able to make it into the Gravity field due to the traffic jam tried to go around, only to be immediately forced to the ground. Even the Houndooms and Mightyenas were forced to the ground. The few that had belonged to the Admins that were attempting were faring a bit better, but they only made it in a few steps.
I felt a bit bad about doing it this way, but I needed them to understand what they were signing up for. Diancie was using Gravity at the highest force she could, which was even difficult for me to stand in. Which is why I had sat down. Usually we don’t concentrate it this much, and spread it out so that it covers a larger area. I wondered for a moment how much of an increase this was, but shook the thought as I would probably be wrong.
Pretty much all of the younger Pokemon had already given up. And now that it had thinned, I realized that even Liar was attempting my challenge. I was surprised to see that lazy cat, but if she was determined enough I wouldn’t say no.
Then there was Hate. She was just sitting there, watching the others. I wondered if she wanted to try, or was just helping to pull out those that gave up.
And now I was going to make it worse for them. I pulled out my phone, turning my attention to it. They weren’t going to get any sort of encouragement from me. This was all them. They had to want it bad enough.
I sent a message to Diantha; ‘I know you said you wanted to help, but what kind and how much never came up.’ I left it at that, and started to work on my notes again. I was almost done converting all the photos into text. Pokeblocks were still a fascinating gap in my knowledge. However, it wasn’t truly a gap, because I could modify the recipes for each Pokemon using the strange ability. It really made me question to what extent this power reached.
After an hour I finally looked up. There were four Pokemon left. Liar the Liepard. Bungle the Houndour, and her sisters Disaster the Houndoom and Immodest the Mightyena. None of the Admin Pokemon had decided it was worth the effort, I guessed. Hate was still there, watching, with Smug on one side of her and Malevolence on the other.
Honestly I was a bit saddened that so many had decided to give up. I hadn’t been exaggerating when I said I would be willing to take them all. “All right Diancie, that’s enough.”
Immediately the Gravity was gone and the four struggling Pokemon lost their balance and fell over. I knew well that the strain on their body suddenly disappearing felt extremely good. Although that was because it made you lightheaded. “You…never said…” Liar was breathing hard as she struggled to get back on her feet. “There was… a time limit…”
She hadn’t made it the farthest, that actually went to Disaster and Immodest, who were almost at the halfway mark. “Of course there would be one,” I said as I walked over to them.
“Then… We failed?” Immodest managed. Disaster looked devastated.
“No,” I said with a bit of a smile. “The challenge was to try and get to me. Not to get to me.”
Bungle and Disaster looked completely lost, but the other two got it. Liar’s eyes went wide. “So we just had to keep trying? And…because we did…”
I nodded. “Yes. This was to test your resolve, not your strength.” I sat down closer to the four of them. Bungle was the furthest back, so she made the effort to get closer. “I don’t want strong Pokemon. I can make a Pokemon strong. As long as they have the drive for that strength. To reach and push to get strong.”
“What a stupid test…” Immodest grumbled.
Reaching over, I started to pet the large canine, smiling at her. “But you passed it.”
“So… that means… you’ll… take us with you?” Bungle managed to say.
Again I nodded. “Wait… I don’t understand,” Disaster, who had been oddly quiet, suddenly spoke up. “What were we doing?”
I laughed, reaching over and rubbing the top of her head. “You wanted to be part of my team, right?” I asked, and she nodded. “Well, now you can.”
She suddenly perked up. “Oh! That’s good.” Her tail was swinging back and forth behind her as she had quite a happy expression.
Immodest sighed. “We explained this to you twice…” she grumbled.
Disaster’s leg raised up and she scratched behind her ear. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
I laughed even more, and Bungle joined in. Immodest began to scold Disaster for not paying attention, again, and that this is very important so she has to pay attention. From the way Disaster’s eyes seemed to glaze over as she lost focus and her mind wandered, it was clear this was a conversation they’d had several times.
While they did that I made my way over to Hate, who straightened when I approached. “Tomorrow we’re going to start going around the region.”
She nodded. “We’re ready any time.”
There was a moment of silence as I looked down at her. “I’m surprised you didn’t try.”
This time she shook her head. “I…” she seemed to hesitate. “I don’t want to explore the world… I just want to find a nice place to lay down and rest. Maybe raise some young.”
I looked her over for a moment before kneeling down in front of her. “You know that means you’re going to be in charge of this rambunctious group?”
She huffed. “That’s fine. There are plenty that I can delegate work to.” She gestured to Smug and Malevolence beside her.
While Malevolence looked almost proud at the words, Smug looked like she had been smacked. “Yeah that’s not happening,” Smug said as she stood up and walked away.
I chuckled a bit as I watched her go. “More work for me then,” Malevolence said, sitting up even straighter. She seemed actually excited at the prospect of work.
“Right.” I nodded a bit as I stood up. “Figure out who will be coming with us, Hate.” She gave a rather stiff nod before getting up and wandering off, Malevolence following after her.
Tomorrow was going to be quite interesting.
Chapter 25
Summary:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
NEW Liar - Liepard - Big hungry cat
NEW Bungle - Houndour - Just a little pup
NEW Disaster - Houndoom - Bit of a space case
NEW Immodest - Mightyena - Super serious
Chapter Text
My planned exploration finally began, and thankfully, weren’t interrupted. For once. Really felt like the world did not want me to expose Team Flare. Maybe this was some sort of fate nonsense? Like this is supposed to be something for Ash to take care of? I never really gave much credence to fate. Was it fate that I got my head bashed in with a bat and ended up in a world full of Pokemon? Besides, I’m sure by the time he gets to Kalos, he’s going to need a well deserved break.
Actually, now that I was thinking about it, with Arceus involved it might have been some sort of forced destiny nonsense. I guess that would depend on if Arceus was the type to do that. From the little I knew, he never really seemed like the type to long term plan. More of a see problem, fix problem type.
Either way, nothing bothered me in the morning as I set out from the gym. Thirty two bases to find and confirm was going to take a while. Especially because I didn’t just have game locations. Since anime and movie locations also existed, that meant there were over thirty towns and cities in Kalos to check. And that wasn’t including possible bases in the wild. This was going to take months.
At least, that’s what I thought.
“I’d ask if you were sure, but it’s… uh… really obvious,” I mumbled down to Hate, who was sitting at my feet. We were currently outside a small cafe in Laverre, as I decided to start my search here since I was practically living in this city for the time being.
And we’d found the place practically immediately. It was a clothing store called Flare for the Dramatic and it was like they weren’t even hiding. In the last half hour I’d seen two clearly dressed Team Flare members walk in.
“Are they all like this?” I asked.
“All like what?” she questioned back at me.
“This obvious.” I tried not to gesture at the place. I was trying to be subtle after all.
Her brow seemed to furrow a bit as she looked up at me. “I’m not sure about all of them, but I think so?”
I sighed a bit as I stopped the recording on my phone. Already had more than enough evidence of this place with Team Flare just brazenly walking in. “I guess with the more powerful Trainers knowing Team Flare belonged to Lysandre, there was no need to be subtle…”
That raised so many more damn questions though. The police didn’t know somehow? How did Sycamore not know? Damn, no wonder this group was brought down by a couple of kids. But the real question was… were they all going to be this easy?
They were, in fact, all that easy.
I had thought that Flare for the Dramatic would have been the outlier, but it was in fact the norm. Sure, there were a few locations that were actually hard to find, but with Hate, Smug, and Impulsive, there wasn’t any true difficulty to it. The problem is that it still took time.
We had been at this for three weeks and had twenty five locations so far. Most of them were super obvious once you knew what to look for, such as a lot of people wearing red tinted shades and skulking about. Heck, we’d even come across two that no one in my group knew about.
We’d only truly run into any sort of difficulty six times.
The first difficult one had been someone's residence. I wasn’t sure if we had the location right, and I felt weird just watching some random house. That was probably the location I spent the longest at, trying to figure out what its angle was. Until I gave up and went up onto the porch and just knocked. Thankfully no one answered, but it gave me a better look at what it was going for. From the street it looked normal, but up close I realized the windows had metal shutters on the inside. And from the way my knuckles felt after knocking, the door was clearly made of metal.
It was a safe house of some kind.
That was good enough information for me and I moved on. Now that I knew what to look out for, there were two other safehouses on the long list of known locations.
The second trip up was a gym in Lagoon Town, one of the places that didn’t exist in the game. It was a minor one, but it was still a gym. I didn’t want to get close, but damn was it obvious. They even called their badge the Flare Badge. Practically hung up a sign.
There was also another gym in Cyllage City that was clearly under Team Flare control. At least they were more subtle about the badge name; the Flicker Badge was honestly a pretty cool name. Kinda wanted it, but wouldn’t dare to consciously step into a place run by Team Flare.
Unfortunately, simply stepping into such a place is how the fourth difficulty arose. I had stopped into a cafe in Calanthe Town, and without even meaning to, found myself in line behind three Team Flare members. One of which was an Admin. They weren’t even hiding. Two of them in those red suits, while the third was in white. I really did not understand how they were able to function when so many of their members were so brazen. And to make matters worse, they were there for some sort of transfer. The Admin handed over a pokeball, and the barista handed over something that I couldn’t see.
And to make things worse, their drinks suck. I don’t know how you can mess up a hot chocolate that bad. It had the consistency of a warm milkshake. I couldn’t even finish it. Thankfully Dee was more than happy to down the unholy thick syrupy concoction, so it wasn’t wasted. The heathen even had the audacity to ask for another.
The fifth little problem we had was with the ninjas. While I knew there was a Ninja Village, and I knew roughly where it was - somewhere between Anistar and Snowbelle - I had no way of actually finding it. Although when I thought about it, I doubted the ninjas would let Team Flare anywhere near them so I decided to not press the issue. But I was disappointed; I wanted to see French ninjas.
The last difficulty was with Orsay. It didn’t exist. Just straight up, not a place. It was absolutely baffling, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. A city that was in a movie didn’t exist. Other movie locations existed, but not this one. And I had no idea why. Logically there was no reason that it had to exist, but I still found it odd that it seemed to be the only one missing.
Shockingly, I hadn't been interrupted during my explorations. Diantha did text me back, ‘I’ll help in whatever way you need. It’s not like I’m short on money.’ I was definitely going to push that quite a bit and see how serious she was about that. She also wouldn’t tell me what name she picked out, though she assured me that she had decided on one.
Valerie was also being rather secretive. Especially about her date. I had pestered her multiple times to spill what happened, but she would immediately clam up. Though the way she mumbled about it going well, and the way her face would go red, was a good indication. I had been tempted to spy on them, but that could have easily ruined the whole scheme. I did manage to get out of her that they had two more dates in the three weeks of my exploration.
I had been able to keep a rather nice schedule. Spend most of the day visiting a few towns, then return back to the gym and spend several hours training Pokemon. Maybe it was a bit of a waste of time to return to the gym every day, but it was safe there. Valerie had even allowed me to use another training room, essentially giving the wolf pack free reign of the initial room.
Everyone was so happy to get back to training, especially Keo. She had practically danced. Although it was quite annoying to get her back into the training rhythm with the others. She seemed reluctant to listen to my instructions, and I kept having to correct the bad habits she was constantly defaulting back into. I thought that I’d gotten her out of most of them, but apparently she’d gone right back to doing what she always did. It was hard to not get frustrated with her. We seemed to be stuck in this little dance of two steps forward, three steps back.
I had thought we were getting along better, but apparently I was wrong. Maybe she was just frustrated at the lack of visible progress? That certainly could be the case. At least by the end of the second week she was more on board with following my instructions after getting trounced in every single training exercise we did. It also helped that the members of Team Speed Shell had a talk with her between week two and three. Not sure what was said, but it helped.
The three new canine members were much less enthused at the training process. Right now I only had them running laps, getting used to the Gravity. Immodest seemed absolutely miserable, but also refused to even entertain the thought of giving up. Although she complained loudly. Bungle and Disaster had been in the same boat at the start, but became much more enthusiastic after watching the rest of the Pokemon train for that first week.
They all knew there was a forever advancing goal post that no one ever reached. It was a simple matter of continuing forward. That was how someone got strong. Liar had shown zero feeling on the matter, like training was just something that was expected. She didn’t complain, or show any signs she enjoyed it. It was just something she had to do for her next meal; that hadn’t changed. But the quality of meals sure did. Especially when I did a nature test on all of them.
Liar liked dry and was extremely vocal about not liking sour things. So that would make her a mild nature? That was honestly a bit surprising, but natures didn’t really seem to mean anything. Also a surprise was Immodest, who liked spicy and disliked dry. Which was an adamant nature. And then both Bungle and Disaster liked dry, and hated bitter, which made them both rash natures. It was honestly unfortunate that natures weren’t really a quantifiable thing, because those would have been pretty good ones to have. Still, I was honestly glad I had all the natures memorized, because for some reasons it really made remembering what flavors everyone liked and disliked a lot easier when I cooked up meals.
I hadn’t done a large meal for the wolf pack since that first time, letting them eat good pokechow and pokebeans instead. On the topic of pokebeans, I had decided that if the area obtained was large enough, a place would be built to grow more. Not for my use, but for the reserve's. With the soothing and positive effect pokebeans had on the mental state of a Pokemon, they would be an extremely valuable resource.
But that was for the future. Probably the far future. Right now, I was running myself ragged around Kalos looking for- well I can’t call it a needle in a haystack. More like… spotting the elephant in the room. Or would it be Phanpy? No, not large enough… Copperajah maybe? Those were big and hard to miss. Even more of a shame was that I couldn’t even enjoy the cities. It was just… hunting. That was really the only way to describe it. A man and his three loyal hounds finding the dens of some froofed up abruti.
But that was fine. I could see them when I finished my circuit. Right now, I was heading towards Dahara, which was one of the four places I still needed to check. The mess with Hoopa shouldn’t happen for a while, since that involved Ash. I should still avoid Baraz and Meray. Although they should still be in Arche Valley, right? So as long as I didn’t cause a scene there I should be fine.
Man is it hard to keep track of stuff.
I do need to check Arche Valley for Team Flare bases… Damn was it really hard to not get involved with things. While I had been more willing to step in and get involved, I already had too much on my plate.
As I was disembarking the train my phone rang, and I had the suspicion something else was about to get dropped on my plate.
Moving to a more secluded area, I answered. “Hello, Valerie. What’s up?”
“He’s here!” she announced excitedly.
For a moment I worried she meant her uncle, but she was in far too much of a good mood for that to be the case. “Who?”
She stared silently at me for a moment, before seemingly remembering that she hadn’t told me anything. “Oh! Right! Anyways! Come back as soon as you're done with your current location.” Valerie knew that what I was doing was important, and would help us out immensely in the long run. It was also where we were going to get the vast majority of the Pokemon that filled the reserve, so she didn’t tell me to drop everything and head back now.
“I just got to Dahara,” I said and immediately her expression soured. She knew that the city was huge, one of the largest in Kalos.
“So you’re going to be there all day?” she asked dejectedly.
I nodded as I looked up at the large rings at the top of Dahara Tower. “Pretty much. My plan was to sweep Dahara, then go to Arche Valley. I have to go there on foot, since there’s no train there.” This was probably going to be one of the few times in the last three weeks that I didn’t return to the gym that night.
Her face scrunched a bit and she looked deep in thought. “Can you put it off?” she finally asked.
My eyebrow arched a bit as I looked at her. “If it’s important, and has some kind of time restriction, yeah. I’m still at the train station.”
Again she seemed to deliberate on this, and then nodded. “Yes. I don’t think I can manage the explanation on my own.”
That was interesting. Whoever she had gotten to help hadn’t had the situation explained to him. With a sigh, I nodded as I walked over to the train that ran the opposite direction. “I’ll be there in an hour or so.”
“Great!” She suddenly exclaimed, immediately brightening. “If this goes well, most of all our problems will be solved!”
With those words she hung up, not even bothering to say goodbye. Did this world not have that etiquette or something? I feel like I’m hung up on a lot. People just say what they need to say, sometimes chat for a bit, and then bam. It was a bit annoying, but I supposed that it did save time.
What didn’t save time was having to get on another damn train.
~
Stepping back into the gym the mood of the place seemed to have shifted. It was more… lively. Before I had too much of a chance to investigate, Allie quickly waved me over. “Jason!” she called out. That drew almost the entire room's attention towards me as I made my way over to the counter. It was similar to the first time that I came in, but this time it was a lot more positive. “Valerie told me you should head to the tea room as soon as you arrived.”
I nodded slowly. “Alright…” I wanted to ask her what was going on, but from the look she was giving me, I wasn’t going to get an answer. So rather than waste more time, I made my way through the back door.
The tea room was a place I hadn’t been that often, but I was familiar enough with it to be able to find it in this massive building. When I opened the door, I could easily spot Valerie, laughing with a man I didn’t recognize. “Ah! Jace, you’re here!” She said with a large smile.
The man immediately rose to his feet in an almost unnaturally smooth movement. He had blue hair that was sort of spiky and swooped out to either side. His clothing was rather heavy duty, and I noted the massive cloak that was on the ground beside were he was sitting. But what really caught my attention was the red headband, and matching short sleeved open vest jacket. “You’re Jace? I’ve heard so much about you,” the man said as he approached, a large smile on his face. “I’m Ezekiel.”
His hand was outstretched and I took it with a bit of a smile. “Yes, I’m Jace. Nice to meet you, Ezekiel.” His hand was extremely calloused, and covered in scars. In fact, practically every inch of his arms were covered in scars.
“If it wasn’t obvious, I’m a Ranger.” He opened his vest a bit to show the badge. I recognized it from books that I had read, and he was…advanced rank? If I was reading the markings right. That meant he was equivalent to an Elite Trainer.
“Right. I’m a Pokemon Expert. But we don’t have badges,” I said with a bit more of a genuine smile on my face.
He laughed, finally releasing my hand. “Well, considering how few there are, I don’t think the Association sees a need.”
“I dunno… Would make a lot of things a lot easier for me,” I said with a bit of a chuckle.
“Ah. Yes. Seems like some sort of problem arose that even an Expert couldn’t handle.” He gestured for us to move back to the table and I followed. “I was absolutely shocked to get back in signal range and have a message from Valerie begging for a meeting.”
“I did not beg,” Valerie snapped. “It was a request.”
He nodded a bit, sitting down. “Yes, yes. So, explain to me what you need help with.”
Valerie looked at me, and I nodded to her as I took a seat. “Land,” she said and he immediately frowned. “And a lot of it.”
He sighed. “Well, that is more than a little complicated…”
“It’s not for settling,” she explained hurriedly. “In fact, it’s kind of the opposite.”
His eyebrow rose quite a bit as he looked at her, I wasn’t sure how high it went since it disappeared under his headband. He glanced at me for a second. “Alright? Then what’s it for?”
“A Pokemon Reserve,” I said calmly.
Now both of his eyebrows were up somewhere under his headband. “A reserve? Like that nature reserve they have in Unova?”
“Sort of. But you can think of it more like the Safari Zone,” I explained.
His brows had reappeared, but were now furrowed. This man was quite expressive with his facial features. “I see… That would require a lot of land.” He looked thoughtful for a few moments. “I’m guessing you would want it near here?”
We both nodded. “Preferably,” I replied.
“As much as we can,” Valerie added.
Ezekiel gave Valerie quite a harsh look. “This is a big request. If you’re talking about the size of land I think you are…”
“Hundreds of acres,” I interjected.
He sighed. “Okay… Yeah that is a lot. I’ll have to discuss this with the Ranger Union.”
“We’re going through proper channels,” Valerie said with a huff, folding her arms. She wasn’t wearing her costume right now.
“Proper channels would be through the Association,” he said almost exasperated.
“But this has nothing to do with them,” Valerie snapped, and I wondered if she had spoken with Evelyne and had her head filled up with all that conspiracy nonsense.
“Right. I’d still have to talk with the higher ups; I can’t just make this sort of decision on my own.” He put up his hands when it looked like Valerie was about to push the issue more. “Val, I don’t have that much authority. I have some pull, but you’re talking about taking wilderness. Land reclamation, even if it’s not going to be changed, still means someone will be taking ownership of it. That is above me.”
Valerie seemed unconvinced, but nodded begrudgingly. “Okay, I get that. But you can convince them.”
“I don’t think I can,” he admitted. “This is… This is something really big. I don’t know if anyone would ever approve it, let alone even look at the request knowing what it was.”
I suddenly pulled out my phone. “Well, I think I know someone that will make this easier.”
Valerie suddenly had a smug look, but Ezekiel just let out another sigh. “I know you’re an Expert, but even Professor Sycamore would-”
“Hello hello~ My, Jace… You’ve not called me before. And never text. I was starting to think you’d forgotten about little ol’ me,” the very clear voice of Diantha came from my phone.
I snorted in response. “Right. I should have expected an actress to be needy for attention.”
She scoffed. “Rude,” she retorted, annoyance clear in her voice. But she broke soon after with a soft giggle. “Alright, so, something happen?”
“We’ll talk more when you tell me what name you want to give the reserve.” I gave her a pointed look through the phone, but she just smiled at me. “Anyways, not important right now. We’re discussing with the Ranger’s about getting land-”
“Ooohhh, fun,” she interrupted.
“Right.” I tilted the phone so that Ezekiel could see the screen and the way he went rigid at seeing Diantha on the screen was oddly satisfying. “This is Ezekiel, and he’s going to bring our proposal to the Rangers Union.”
“And you need me to give it a helpful push, hm?” She had a rather mischievous smile on her face. “Well, that sounds good to me. I’ve got time today, so I’ll head over. See you there, Ezekiel.”
There was a moment of silence after she hung up. The poor Ranger looked to have gone several shades paler. “She… Did she mean… Right now?”
“I think she did,” I said as I put away my phone.
In an instant he was on his feet, throwing on his cloak. “I gotta go. I have to… I have to beat her there. Oh Arceus, why me?” He started running for the door. “Thanks for the tea, Val!” he called back, and then was gone.
There were a few moments of silence as we both simply looked at the door. “Well, that’s that problem solved,” I said with a bit of a laugh.
“One solved, and a bunch added,” Valerie grumbled into her teacup. “Getting the Champion involved is going to draw a ton of eyes on this project.”
I shrugged slightly. “I dunno, I think I should throw her at more problems.”
“She’s always sticking her nose in things,” Valerie said with a heavy sigh, looking down at her teacup.
“Sounds like she’s a menace.” I nodded a bit. “Are all Champions like that?”
Valerie just sighed heavily again. “Yes. Mostly.” She paused. “At least, the ones I’ve met.”
We both sort of laughed at that, and started to discuss other things. She wanted to know how my training was going, and how far along I was in my reconnaissance. “I’m almost done. I have Dahara, Arche Valley, Lumiose, and Snowbelle left.”
“I understand why you put off the other three, since they’re massive cities and the Valley doesn’t have a train connection, but why put off Snowbelle?” she questioned.
“Lots more to do in Snowbelle. From what I’ve gathered from the dogs, there’s two bases that are in the snowy place, but only one is in the city,” I explained. “And there’s some things I want to look for in the mountains. And there’s the gym.”
“You’re planning to challenge Wulfric while you’re there?” She looked a bit puzzled. “You’ve been skipping over all the other gyms.”
I nodded. “I want to get back to running my circuit. I have seven months, but I don’t want to wait till the last minute.” It felt like time was going by both very quickly, and very slowly. It was only a month ago that I’d had my conflict with ex-Director Yellow, but it sure felt like much longer. With that whole conflict I had been worried that I wouldn’t be paid this month, but my account received my monthly salary yesterday without issue. Now my account was sitting at eighty thousand, which felt like so much money, but at the same time it didn’t. There was no way it was going to be enough for the reserve.
That was another reason to challenge Wulfric and run the circuit. I’d get paid for each win.
We didn’t talk for much longer. Valerie had pushed back her schedule, again, in order to have this meeting with Ezekiel, and had to get back to work.
Which was fine by me. I made my way back towards the room with the wolf pack, returning Hate, Smug, and Impulsive to that room before heading to the other training room. Part of me wanted to be annoyed that I was interrupted, but honestly it was to be expected, and it’s not like I really had a strict timeline. Seven months was more than enough time.
The moment I entered the training room, there was a little figure running towards me. It was Banette, and it took me a moment to realize that she was now wearing a coat. A coat that was strikingly similar to mine. “Oh? Well now, looking good, Banette.”
She had such an immense grin on her face that her zipper stretched from one side to the other. I knelt down to get a better look at her, and she did a twirl to show it off. Mikyu had done a very good job.
I scooped her up off the ground and cradled her in one arm while releasing all the other Pokemon that had come with me. The only ones I hadn’t taken with me when I went out were the four newest members, Essy, Eevee, Banette, and Mikyu. The little Lucario costumed ghost Pokemon was currently fussing with fabrics in the sitting area. I had no idea what her next project was going to be, but it apparently had something to do with Liar, as the two of them were talking.
With my plans for today and tomorrow ruined, I decided to start training early. Almost everyone was annoyed at that, as I had been making them train late into the night since they’d be resting in their pokeballs practically all day.
Since I had made certain discoveries about energy - I guess it would be more appropriate to say that I found out some stuff - my training design had changed a bit. There was still the Gravity, but now I was having everyone focus on using their energies. Not just on moves, but in general. I wasn’t sure if it was more efficient than what I was already doing, but time would tell.
~
The next day I was, once again, on a train to Dahara. The only real difference was that this time, it was snowing, reminding me that it was the middle of winter. Everything had been often dusted with snow, but this was the first time that I was aware that it was actively snowing during the day. It made the whole world seem so much more peaceful. Even the noise from the train seemed dampened.
It made the eventual walk through the city almost surreal. People on the street were all bundled up, doing their best to quickly get to their destinations.
Then a store display caught my attention, and I had a realization. “Oh… It’s almost Christmas…” I mumbled to myself. My students would be on winter break right about now. I wonder if they'd replaced me? Or just let Tony take over completely. He never really was good at the actual class part of being a teacher, but he was a really good coach.
As I wondered what exactly the origins of this particular holiday were in this world, I suddenly had another thought. When was the last time I had even celebrated Christmas? It was never really… a good time. I stopped getting invited to holidays when I changed majors. My father practically disowned me, and my mother went along with whatever he said. I never did understand what it was about my choice that made that man hate me so much.
A nudge against my leg pulled my attention back to the present and I looked down at Hate. She was looking at me curiously, asking if I was alright with her eyes. “It’s nothing,” I said with a shake of my head. “Just remembering things.”
Just like I thought, it took two days to fully explore Dahara City, but we did find four bases. Well, more specifically we found one safe house, and two places that seemed to be some sort of trade locations. What nearly got me in trouble was the actual base on the third day of searching.
It was the first place that actually had security. I had hardly been paying attention, so imagine my surprise when I turned the corner and nearly ran into a poorly disguised Flare member. Poorly disguised because he still had his shades. He gave me a look that said to go somewhere else, and I listened. Especially when I saw the building, and the camera positioned to watch the front.
Thankfully it wasn’t looking down the street or they would have gotten me on video. It was just watching the street directly out front. Said street was also swarming with Team Flare, most disguised, some not.
I just took note of it in my phone and didn’t push my luck in getting closer as they had apparently blocked off the whole street. It was good that the grunt didn’t recognize me, or at least didn’t react if he did. Pretty sure he didn’t. But I didn’t leave as quickly as I should have. Too curious for my own good.
Well… it didn’t take long to see what the fuss was about. The building looked like some sort of laboratory as far as I could tell. Out front of the building was a very nice looking car, and Lysandre was getting out of it. And standing across from him was a rather rotund man, with pale skin, red goggles, red hair that looked like three triangles pointed forward with a tuft pointing up that looked like fire, and a little red beard. Xerosic was very hard not to recognise.
It took quite a bit of willpower to not start sprinting. I had no idea how strong the two of them were, but considering Lysandre had Malva under him, and she was part of the Elite Four, he had to at least be on par with her. Thankfully I was around the next corner almost immediately after I spotted the two of them, and they seemed too engrossed in their conversation to notice me.
That was a bit too close. But thankfully that seemed to be the last place in Dahura, so I made my way out of the city. The only reason I even knew the direction to Arche Valley was there was a sign pointing to it. When I kicked a bit of snow to get a better look at the ground, the road was just compact dirt. Apparently not enough people went there for it to be worth an actual road.
Not like I actually planned on walking. It had been quite a while since I rode on Scoly, but she seemed more than eager for me to ride her. As I did so I took note that she had gotten quite a bit bigger. She’d gained about a foot in height, putting her at over ten feet tall. And damn, she got even faster.
I probably would have fallen off, but she was actually using her tails to keep me propped up. It was a bit weird that I had to ride so far back, but it was actually very stable. She may have been a big bug horse, but she sure didn’t run like a horse. And she just kept picking up more and more speed thanks to her Speed Boost ability. I just held on and let her run.
The most interesting thing about the run was finding out the Speed Boost apparently had a limit. Eventually Scoly stopped picking up speed. What that speed was, I had no idea, but it was damn fast. Felt like I was on the highway in a convertible. She probably could have gone a little faster if I hadn’t been on her back, throwing off her aerodynamics.
We reached Arche before the sun had even started to set, and Scoly started to slow down. We had stopped just outside of town and I asked the dogs about it. Nothing looked familiar, so we didn’t linger. Just a quick sweep.
However, I got a phone call in the middle of town. It wasn’t a number that I recognized, but I guessed it was someone from the Association finally checking in on me. “Hello?”
“Ah, Jason. It’s Ezekiel.”
“I can see that,” I said, looking at the man now on my phone screen.
“Right. Anyways, Val gave me your number,” he answered the unasked question before continuing, “I have a few things to discuss, but first I want to know what the hell kind of relationship do you have with Diantha?”
A puzzled expression came over my face. “Cordial? Budding friendship, maybe? We’ve only really talked once.
He stared incredulously at me for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh. “Well, she must be really invested in this reserve thing. She practically forced them to sell her all the land between Laverre and the Meuse River.”
I frowned a bit, trying to puzzle out what river that was. “How much of an area is that?”
A sort of scoffing noise escaped him. “A couple hundred kilometers.”
Suddenly I felt tense. “And… How much is that going to cost?”
“About fifty billion?” I choked on my own spit at that number. “I never heard the final number, but that’s probably pretty close.”
I was still coughing and hacking, trying to take in what he was saying while he just completely ignored my struggling to breathe.
“There were also some stipulations. Less than one percent of the land can actually have any sort of buildings or structures on them.” This bastard actually seemed amused by my reaction.
“Okay,” I managed, coughing a bit more before managing to get myself back under control.
“And then she had it all put in your name.”
I hung up on him. I didn’t mean to, but I nearly fumbled my phone from that revelation. What the hell was Diantha thinking? Why would she do that? My heart was hammering in my chest as I was coming to grips with the consequences of what all of this implied.
And my phone started ringing again.
I answered it. “Sorry… Almost dropped my phone,” I said, staring blankly off into the distance.
He laughed. “Yeah that was the reaction I was expecting. She caught everyone off guard.”
“Why would she do that?” I asked, absolutely flabbergasted that she would just… do that.
“Dunno. You’ll have to ask her about it,” he responded with a shrug. “Anyways. Since I’m familiar with the area, I’ve been assigned to do an inspection. Which is going to take weeks because of the sheer volume of land.”
“Can I tag along?” I suddenly asked, and he gave me a rather odd look. “Not for the whole time, but I want to see some of it. Get a feel for what… well, has essentially been thrown in my lap.”
He seemed to take a moment to think over my request before he nodded. “Shouldn’t be a problem. Although, since you own it, you don’t really need me there.”
“I also want to ask you about it, since as you said, you’re familiar with it,” I explained.
To that he nodded. “Alright. No big deal there… You got a mount Pokemon, or do you need to borrow one?”
“Nah.” I shook my head. “I’ve got a Scolipede.”
Clearly that was not the answer he was expecting. “You mean the huge, hyper aggressive, and extremely poisonous bug Pokemon?” he asked incredulously.
“Yeah. A Scolipede,” I said, trying to keep the grin off of my face. “She’s like a big bug horse.”
“How…” he paused as if trying to organize his thoughts. “How do you ride something that’s poisonous to touch?”
“By having one that doesn’t have the Poison Point ability,” I explained, but he just looked more confused. Rather than wait for him to ask, I decided to explain. “She has Speed Boost.”
His brow practically collapsed in on itself as it furrowed. “Scolipedes can have Speed Boost? I thought that was just the Yanma line?”
“Have you ever heard of hidden abilities?” From the way his head tilted slightly before shaking indicated that he had not. “Well, that’s not surprising to me, honestly. I haven’t read anything about them, or heard them mentioned. Hidden abilities are just as their name sake would suggest. They are extremely rare.”
“How have I never heard of this before?” he immediately asked, almost sounding annoyed. “I’m a damn Ranger. This is extremely important information.”
That was a very good question. Information was so… stifled. Suffocated. It was like knowledge was being purposefully suppressed. And unfortunately, the moment I questioned who would do something like that, the first ones to come to mind were the Association.
But I just didn’t understand why… What was the end goal? Was it just to keep the masses ignorant so that they were easier to control? And if it wasn’t the Association, could it be some sort of villain team? Was it Arceus?
“I don’t know,” was all I could really say.
There was a moment of silence, Ezekiel looking thoughtfully at something in the distance. “I’m going to have to tell the Union about this… Hidden abilities… That’s huge. How has no one figured this out?”
“I don’t know,” I repeated. “But I have a theory…” I had started walking again, wanting to finish exploring Arche before it got too dark. If I managed to scour the entire city at a good enough speed, I might be able to make it back to Dahara and catch a train.
His eyes slowly came back to the screen and he studied me for a moment. “You sound a bit reluctant.”
I sighed and shrugged a bit. “The only thing I can think of, is that some organization is suppressing the information. This isn’t the first time I’ve come across something like this, either.”
“Something like this? Where information is being hidden?” he asked, frowning as he suddenly started looking around. “Who?”
Immediately I shook my head. “I can only guess. I haven’t seen any real evidence. Just… finding things out, and then wondering how no one has discovered it.”
“So this means that all those rare cases of a Pokemon not having an ability, are actually those with hidden ones… And we don’t know about them because we don’t test for that.” His brow was furrowing again. “This explains so much… I’d always wondered why sometimes a Pokemon didn’t have an ability…”
“Haven’t you ever noticed Pokemon displaying strange things?” I asked. Since he was a Ranger, he must have seen a ton of different Pokemon.
“Well, yeah, sure. But I’ve seen that in Pokemon that have known abilities, too. It’s just a quirk of how energy works.” He paused. “Or at least…that’s what I’ve always thought.”
“Considering that abilities most likely exist because of energy, that’s not technically wrong,” I said with a bit of a smile.
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s fair. But… damn. You really derailed my line of thought with that one…” He shook his head a bit in an attempt to clear his head of unimportant thoughts. “If you want to come and check out your new property a bit, I’m leaving in two days. I have a ton of things to stock up on if I’m going to cover an area that large.”
“You make it sound like this isn’t something Rangers normally do?” I was honestly curious about that profession. From the sound of it, and the explanation of it in the books I’d read, it seemed like a much more appropriate profession for me. Rangers focus on wilderness travel, survival, and exploration. The biggest roadblock for me is that you have to be an Elite Trainer in order to become a Ranger.
“Not usually,” he answered. “Usually it’s point A to B. Destination is pretty important when you’re trekking through the wilderness. On the rare occasion we have large areas to search, but this is the first time I’ve personally been sent on a survey. But I’m the closest Ranger that’s familiar with the area, so…” He shrugged.
“Alright. Two days…” I paused as I thought. With how long Dahara took me… “Any chance you can leave in four?” I asked, leaving a spare day just in case things took longer than I expected. “I’ve business to take care of in Lumiose tomorrow, and that’s going to take me multiple days.”
He frowned a bit as he thought. “Normally I would probably say no, but since you’re the owner, I’m sure the Union would be fine with it.”
That made me uncomfortable. “Okay. Thank you. I’m going to yell at Diantha now.”
There was a smirk on his face as he gave me a nod, and then hung up.
Immediately after the call disconnected, I called Diantha. It rang several times before finally being answered. “Why, hello~ What do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?”
“What the fuck Diantha?!” I practically shouted, and only didn’t because I realized I was still in public.
She laughed. She actually had the nerve to laugh. “Seems you found out. That’s a shame… I wanted to be the one to tell you so I could see your expression.”
“Well you’re seeing it now!” I responded, my face was some kind of mixture of bewildered and pissed off. “Fifty billion?!”
“It was more like forty nine, but yeah pretty much,” she said with a shrug.
I just stared at her expression on the phone screen. She looked so smug. Like she’d won something. Like I was the one who just spent nearly fifty billion pokedollars on something for her. Okay, sure, I guess I was thinking more in terms of dollars, and if I roughly converted the currency - since pokedollars were based off yen - it was more like three hundred and fifty million, but still. That was an insane amount of money.
Apparently the face I was making must have been hilarious, because she started laughing again. It took almost a full minute for her to stop laughing. “Look, don’t worry about it. I make more money than I know what to do with. Champion, high profile actress, the money is practically endless.”
I would never call myself a jealous man, but damn did I sure feel like one at that moment.
“And I’m not like other Champions, who have organizations or are running Clans,” she mused in an almost… nostalgic way? “Even Cynthia has her little projects… This just sounded like a good thing to throw money at.”
“But…” Even though I had finally found my voice, it was difficult to form words. “But why did you give it all to me?”
She suddenly had the cheekiest of cheeky grins I had ever seen. “Because that way if your reserve idea fails, it won’t be my responsibility.”
I was once again rendered silent at her response, and this just got her laughing again. My mouth was hanging open slightly, but I couldn’t muster the strength to close it.
“It’s like paying for the meal at a restaurant someone else recommended. If the food sucks, it’s not my fault,” she said in an almost sagely way.
“What the heck kind of idiom is that?” I asked. “It barely even makes sense. It wouldn’t be my fault, either. It would be the chef's fault.”
“But you recommended the restaurant,” she immediately defended, frowning a bit at the way I immediately rebuked her strange idiom.
“It’s not like I forced you to go,” I rebuked in our hypothetical.
That actually caused her to pause. “But…why would you recommend it?” she tried, clearly losing steam.
“Maybe because I like the food? Or maybe it’s been a long time since I’ve been and the food had been really good, but they got a new cook or something.” I started listing off varying reasons. “Or maybe it was a place suggested to me?”
She seemed a bit too stunned at my aggressive rebuttal to come up with a response, and eventually just huffed. “Alright. Fine. Whatever. But my argument still stands.”
“I get it,” I said with a sigh. “You don’t want to be the one left holding the baby at the end of the day.”
The noise that escaped her was a mixture of a suppressed snort and a cough, which eventually devolved into giggles. “Yes. I like that one,” she managed to say through her little giggle fit. It was honestly a nice surprise that Diantha was a rather happy person. I might even call her bubbly.
“Well, it’s a good thing I won’t fail. Otherwise I’ll have to flee the country,” I said with a chuckle.
She nodded, making an attempt to put on a serious expression but failing. “You’d have to change your name. Your appearance. Maybe grow a beard?”
A sigh escaped me. “I have been trying. I haven’t shaved in months, yet my cheeks are as smooth as a fresh shave.”
Another round of laughter escaped her, and I partially joined in. She probably thought I was joking. “Shame. Guess it’ll have to be a fake beard.”
I nodded, managing a rather grim expression. “You’re an actress, know a good place I could get one?”
It was amazing how she immediately schooled her expression. “I may know some people. But it’ll cost you.”
My hand raised up and I pretended to stroke an imaginary beard. “Are they trustworthy?”
“I wouldn’t recommend them if they weren’t,” she replied. We both managed to hold our serious expressions for a moment longer before breaking into laughter. I couldn’t remember the last time I laughed this much. “You’re not a bad actor.”
“I’m a teacher. Gotta be able to fake it in front of kids. They’ll go after any sort of weakness they can get their grubby little fingers on.” Her eyebrow raised at my statement, and I continued before she could question, “Before I became an Expert.”
“A Pokemon teacher, eh?” she mused a moment, getting a rather distant look. “Not a Professor… but you did teach about Pokemon.”
I shrugged. “Not really. Pokemon have always just been a hobby for me, up until I ended up… well, here.”
She seemed to puzzle over that for a moment. “Are you gonna tell me about your Journey?” she asked.
“Depends,” I said slowly. “You gonna tell me the name of my reserve?”
“Nope.” And then she promptly hung up.
A soft snort escaped me and I shook my head. Diantha sure wasn’t what I expected, but she was pleasant to talk with. And I would win out in the end in our little game, since it wasn’t like we could open without her telling me the name.
I spent a couple more hours in Arche before mounting Scoly and heading back to Dahara. There hadn’t been even a hint of Team Flare in Arche that I could find. I guess it was too small or remote to put effort into. A base just…somewhere out in the wilderness would be more appropriate, but Lysandre was apparently too cocky for that.
The base outside of Geosenge was apparently the farthest away from any city, aside from Lysandre’s actual laboratory. But the Geosenge base wasn’t even that far out, and I suspected it was more a matter of being put there because that’s where the Ultimate Weapon was hidden and they didn’t want to move it. The only other base I could locate in Geosenge when I went there had been abandoned, probably because of the massive spike in police presence.
As I boarded the train, I mentally noted the total number of Team Flare bases I had marked. We were now up to twenty nine, with just two places to look. And I really needed to get some warmer clothes before heading to Snowbelle.
~
Surprisingly, there was only one Flare base in Lumiose. The Red Cafe. Sure, technically Lysandre’s laboratory was also in Lumiose, but it was actually pretty far outside the city. In the game, Red Cafe had been a laboratory, but I honestly had no idea what it was in this world. I never even went anywhere near Lysandre’s lab, because it was too risky. Of course, it went in the photo file I was making on my phone anyways. Not all of the locations had photos, some were just notes depending on how dangerous it would be to actually get evidence.
It was kinda weird that there were only two places, but I probably missed several. Even though I spent two days combing the city for any sort of Flare activity, I came up with nothing. It felt like such a waste of time, because I already knew both locations.
Returning back to Laverre, I decided that tomorrow I would go shopping as I walked back into the gym. Immediately I noticed there were a lot more people here. A lot of older people, who were dressed in a similar manner to Ezekiel. I did not want any part of whatever nonsense was going on, so I quickly slipped through a side door and took the long way to the training rooms.
I quickly deposited the few members of the wolf pack before slipping into my room. As that is honestly what it felt like at this point; my room.
When I released everyone, both Rio and Disaster struck similar poses and shouted, “Freedom!” in almost perfect harmony, before laughing and sprinting off into the room. The sight made me laugh, especially when Cara and Immodest both let out exasperated sighs simultaneously.
The rest of Team Speed Shell was quick to join them in running. Bungle and Disaster had been enthusiastically added to the team, while Liar and Immodest had turned them down.
It was interesting how they all seemed to have split into three groups. There was Team Speed Shell, obviously. Team Adult, as I liked to call them, consisted of Cara, Dee, Liar, and Immodest, and Team Noncombattant, consisting of Eevee, Mikyu, Banette, and Essy. Diancie was a wild card and hopped between groups frequently. And while I classified Banette in Team Noncombattant, she also switched occasionally, but mostly just stayed around Mikyu.
Technically I was also on Team Adult, but that was because I wasn’t allowed to join Team Speed Shell. The weird part is they all seemed to be in agreement. “Papa isn’t allowed,” is what they had said, and wouldn’t tell me why.
My only solace was that Cara and Dee were also not allowed. Cara seemed indifferent to it, but Dee was actually a bit sad when she was rejected. When she had asked why, they all sort of just… looked at each other for a moment and refused to give an answer. Which kinda confused all of us. But they had clearly discussed it amongst themselves in depth at some point.
But that was a while ago, and right now I was having them all train. Even Mikyu was training. Essy was curious about the training, and had kinda sorta joined in. Mostly she was just standing under the Gravity, periodically exiting and then going back in. Eevee was doing the same, despite me cautioning her. But she had done it before, so I knew she could handle a bit of it. She was honestly getting a lot stronger, even though she couldn’t use much energy. Honestly I wasn’t sure if she could use any energy at all yet.
Suddenly, near the start of training, I got a text from Valerie. ‘Is it true that Allie saw you sprinting away from the Ranger Union members??????’
‘I wasn’t sprinting.’ I replied, a bit of a smile pulling at the corner of my mouth.
‘Jace!!! They are here to talk to YOU!!!!’ came the almost immediate reply.
I snorted. ‘Well, maybe I don’t want to talk to them? Ever think of that?’
There was a long pause before I got the next text. ‘Someone has to talk to them.’
‘Tell them that any problems or concerns can go to Diantha. She is my mediator.’ I responded, and then sent a message to Diantha, ‘You’re going to be the mediator between me and the Ranger Union.’
Diantha responded with a single ‘?’ which I did not respond to.
‘Ugh. okay. I’ll tell them.’ Valerie replied.
With that settled, I went back to focusing on the training of Pokemon. Although I was distracted a bit thinking about the texting culture of this world. No one used emojis, not even text ones as far as I had seen. It was odd, but I kind of missed them.
The next day, I allowed everyone some free time as I went shopping. The first thing I did was buy Dee a new training harness. And then I made the most expensive purchase. Food and pokeblock materials. Adding in the cost of so many Pokemon, and since I used so much feeding the wolf pack, I spent thirty two thousand just to have enough to feed everyone for two months.
I could really see why people said raising Pokemon was expensive.
Then I made probably the most impulsive purchase I have ever done. It was a portable, pop up, dimensional storage compatible, ultra compact, Wilderness Kitchen. At least that’s what it said on the box. It was on sale, marked down as some sort of Christmas promotional. Originally fifty thousand, marked all the way down to twenty.
It only caught my attention because quite a few people were making a fuss over it, and trying to grab one. From snippets of conversation, it was apparently last year's model, and so they were trying to get rid of the little stock they had.
I managed to snag a box without really thinking about it and started reading over details. Compatibility with storage bags was interesting, and I read more about that. Apparently it wasn’t an actual storage space like the bag, but instead you rolled it out and it projected a hard light simulation of a fully functional kitchen.
Seeing the term hard light made me think of Doctor Yung and his Mirage Pokemon… I wondered if those were a thing.
Either way, something like this sounded perfect for me, so I threw it into my shopping cart. It was a bit expensive, but seeing it actually included dozens of cookware utensils, including pots and pans of various sizes, it meant I didn’t need to keep all those anymore, or put together my makeshift kitchen. Plates, bowls, and utensils weren’t included, and there was a two meter range before the constructs would fail. But this would be so extremely helpful.
At least, if it worked as advertised.
I was a bit skeptical of it, since I saw that it was made by Lysandre Labs, but I wasn’t sure how this would be able to spy on people like that Holo Caster did. Maybe it had some sort of tracker? That would be a lot of effort, and didn’t feel like it would be Lysandre’s style. With how expensive it was, only Elite Trainers would have it, and since the Admins I’d fought weren’t even at that level, going after the types of Trainers that would use this thing sounded like a bad idea. Although there was a potential of great rewards, the risk felt way too high.
With those thoughts bouncing around in my head, I spent the next few hours Christmas shopping for all of my Pokemon, as well as getting Valerie, Evelyne, and Adria gifts. I thought about getting Diantha something, but that quickly became a case of ‘What do you buy the woman who has everything?’ Sycamore also came to mind, but that felt dumb. If I was going to give him any gift at all, it would be knowledge. But I was still annoyed at him, and he had made no attempt to contact me. Was I being petty? Yeah, definitely. Did I feel justified? Yeah, pretty much.
Christmas was still a week away, so I had time to change my mind depending on what happened.
When I got back to the gym, there weren’t any Ranger Union members. I wondered if they were off bothering Diantha, or if just sending them towards her had made them think twice. Diantha not messaging me made me think they hadn’t contacted her. They had probably wanted to pressure me or something.
Either way, they weren’t my problem for now.
I went a bit easier on the training this night, since I had no idea what to expect tomorrow. But no matter what happened, I was looking forward to what I could learn from Ezekiel.
And that night I got to try out my new Wilderness Kitchen, and by Arceus, it was better than advertised. Firstly, the kitchen was huge. I was expecting something smaller, maybe just a few meters, but this was well beyond that. The entire hard light mat and four transmitters took a few minutes to set up, but offered a total space of four meters by six meters. All of it customizable. It had an interchangeable cooking space that you could either place a fire in, hook up gas, or have a fire Pokemon fuel it.
If there was a limit to how many pots and pans it could generate, I never found it. The technology of this was mind boggling. I had to be completely honest; Lysandre truly was a genius, and so were those in his employ. My only complaint was that the hard light constructs were pretty rough. They couldn’t do smaller complex things, like a whisk, but pots and pans were easy.
Everyone who witnessed the spectacle had their jaws on the floor; myself included. It didn’t take nearly as long to get dinner finished, and we didn’t even have to wash anything that was made from the hard light. Still had to do our normal dishes, but there was a setting to make a dish pit that made even that faster.
And this was the old model. How much better was the newer model? Was it more like Doctor Yung’s? The transmitters that I remembered from the special that had Mirage Pokemon in it were a third of the size as these ones, and had much better range. There was also the large distinction of these not having holographic Pokemon to move and deal with. Doctor Yung must be brilliant to make them so complex but so compact.
~
I was awoken by a strange noise, and it took me a moment to realize it was my phone. With a bit of grogginess, I gave a rather unamused answer, “Hello?”
“Well, goodmorning to you, too. I’m on my way over to the gym right now, so I wanted to make sure you were ready to go,” came a rather amused, or unamused tone. I couldn’t quite tell.
It took me a moment to realize that it was Ezekiel on the screen. “Ah. Right.” I looked at the clock on the phone. No wonder I wasn’t awake; it was three in the morning. “If you’d told me what time, I would have been up,” I responded as I started to unceremoniously shove Pokemon off of me. Cara was already awake, having been woken up by the phone as well. Everyone else was still dead asleep.
“Had a bit of… change of plans. Short end of it, the Union is pissed I delayed the start of my survey, and using you as an excuse did not go over as well as I’d hoped.” From the background of his screen, I could immediately tell that he just entered the gym.
“Ah,” was the noise of response I made as I started to gather everything up, assuring I had everything. “Is it because I shoved responsibilities at Diantha?”
“Yes,” he said, heaving a rather exasperated sigh. “They don’t dare go after her, so I’m the next punching bag in line.”
“Sucks to be you,” I said with a slight chuckle, returning everyone to their pokeballs. I wasn’t going to leave anyone here, because I didn’t know if I’d return today. Might spend a whole week or month out there. Eevee was last, and got tucked into my hood.
When I realized Ezekiel hadn’t responded, I looked over at my phone and realized he’d hung up on me. That got a good laugh at me, and I realized that was the way most of my phone calls ended. Either I got hung up on, or I hung up on them.
I met Ezekiel in the hall, as he hadn’t been aware of which room I was in and was waiting for me outside. “Ready?” he asked as he looked me up and down. I couldn’t tell if it was a disapproving or approving look at my choice of attire, but it was certainly a look.
“Ready,” I agreed easily. As the two of us made our way to the edge of town, I asked him a question that had been at the back of my mind, “What does this survey entail?”
He grunted a bit as his first response. Clearly, despite having woken me up at this hour, he was not a morning person. “It’s nothing too precise. Mostly I just need to make sure no humans have taken up residence, and none of the Pokemon have become overly territorial, or certain types haven’t overly expanded.”
My brow furrowed a bit. “I see…”
“Usually a survey doesn’t go out this far,” he continued. “I’ve only been out to Meuse twice, and the first time was when I was still apprenticing. It’s too far out to be worried about.”
“So you’ve never been to the mountains out that way?” I asked, looking into the distance. Unfortunately because of the weather, they weren’t visible.
“Not this far North,” he said with a shake of his head. “That range goes really far South, and you can get to it from Dendemille a lot easier.”
I nodded a bit and we stopped at the edge of town. The forest around had gotten quite a lot thicker, and buildings became sparse. He reached to his belt suddenly, and tossed a pokeball. In a flash there was a large hooved Pokemon, with a green mane that extended down its back and massive horns in its head. It was a Gogoat. But what really caught my attention was the harnesses and saddle it was wearing.
Ezekiel didn’t pause as he started to check straps. He glanced at me, seeing me study the goat. “I’m going to be exploring for months,” he said rather defensively. “I’m not walking all that distance.”
I put up my hands, chuckling a bit. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Right…” he mumbled before turning back to the Pokemon.
To its credit, the Gogoat looked eager. It had heard the word months and immediately got excited. “Runnin’ for months, huh? Must be a real big gig,” it said, its voice completely catching me off guard. It had a Jersey accent.
“Survey,” Ezekiel explained simply, clearly being quite close with his Pokemon and able to understand them. “This is Francis,” he said back to me. “Francis, meet Jason.”
The goat looked me up and down. “Eh, he don’ look like much, y’know? What’s he comin’ for?”
“I own the land that’s going to be surveyed,” I said as I reached into my coat to grab a certain pokeball.
Both of them stared at me for a moment. “You can understand him?” Ezekiel asked.
I actually laughed, as I hadn’t had to explain this to anyone for quite a while now. “Yes. I have some sort of special talent for it.”
“Dat’s interestin’,” Francis said.
“That’s interesting,” Ezekiel said at the same time.
Again I laughed as I pulled out the pokeball and threw it, releasing Scoly. The way that both of them tensed at the sight of her. I just reached over and she pressed her head against my hand. And then proceeded to knock me over with her horn. “I was sleeping,” she grumbled.
I had a bit of a smile on my face as I grabbed hold of her horn, using it to get myself back to my feet. She grunted a bit at the sudden tugging of her horn, but did help me back up. “I told you we would be doing a lot of exploring.”
“But it’s eeeeaaaaarlyyyyy,” she whined, stomping one of her feet, which sent up a little puff of snow. “You didn’t say anything about it being early.”
“I know, I know,” I soothed as I rubbed her head and neck. “I didn’t expect it to be this early, either.” She huffed and then looked over at the other two. To their credit, Ezekiel had seemed to relax a bit, though he was clearly on edge. Francis had not. The poor goat was clearly trying to decide rather to fight the massive bug or run. The only reason it did neither was probably Ezekiel going back to working on the straps.
“You weren’t kidding,” Ezekiel said with a shake of his head.
“This is Scoly,” I said with a pat on her neck, and she proceeded to bump into me, nearly taking me off my feet again. “Scoly, this is Francis, and Ezekiel.” The goat bristled when I gestured at him and Scoly’s attention turned to him.
With introductions out of the way, it wasn’t long before we started moving. Ezekiel was absolutely incensed by the fact I didn’t have a saddle, and was just using a blanket to pad the bugs back to sit on. As we moved deeper into the forest, I explained my troubles with getting one, which he found hilarious.
We spent two days wandering into the forest, seeing probably hundreds of Pokemon. Some of them tried fighting us, but most of them avoided us. Ezekiel wouldn’t let me fight anything, and I noticed he had quite a strange way of battling. It was all about subduing, rather than doing anything else.
Two of Ezekiel’s Pokemon were an Ariados and a Butterfree, who both worked together with scary efficiency to immobilize and incapacitate any Pokemon that got close. I hadn’t seen any of his others yet.
We had spent the time mostly in silence, as to not attract wild Pokemon, though he did explain things. He knew quite a bit about what Pokemon held what territory, and would always point it out when we entered a new one. How he knew was a mystery to me, but he was quite confident and I had no way of disputing him.
The first night he had complained that my diner setup was excessive and would draw too much attention. And then he actually tasted the food, and his complaining turned to wondering aloud how he could get one of these Wilderness Kitchens.
“We’re leaving service range,” he said suddenly on the third day.
I blinked at him. “What?”
“Communication service,” he said as he pulled out his phone for emphasis.
Pulling out my own phone, I was met with quite an interesting alert saying that I was out of service range, and to head back immediately as I was entering uncharted wilderness. I dismissed the warning before putting my phone back away. That felt… really weird. We were barely two days' ride away from town.
The rest of the day was spent similarly to the last two. It wasn’t until day four that something happened. It started with an odd tickle at my nose. Something…familiar on the wind. I had Scoly stop so that I could better try and figure out what it was.
Ezekiel stopped after a moment and looked back at me. He was about to ask something when he caught it as well.
And then we both realized what it was, practically at the same time. “Smoke,” he voiced the realization.
Both of us immediately urged our mounts to move. Despite being ahead of me, Scoly easily caught up to Francis and surpassed him as she gained more and more speed. The smell of smoke got stronger and stronger the further we traveled.
Until we suddenly burst into a massive clearing of scorched earth and trees blackened to burnt toothpicks, some of which were still on fire or smouldering.
Scoly stumbled a bit to a stop at the sight that met us. Bodies. Both human and Pokemon were scattered around the clearing. I leapt from Scoly, who had frozen at the sight, and started sprinting the last of the distance.
Everything in my head was fuzzy, and I was struggling to comprehend all the different things I could see. My brain registered the outfit of Team Flare. The partial remains of Mightyena and some other Pokemon that I refused to look at well enough to figure out what they were.
Francis and Ezekiel passed me at some point, rushing to the larger group of- whatever to the right. To the left was a lone figure on the ground that I was rushing towards. I was kneeling beside them before I even registered what I was doing. My brain supplied that I was looking at a Delphox, but there was just… so much blood. It’s chest was heaving, desperately trying to take in whatever air that it could.
My hand went into my coat, fumbling for Dee’s pokeball but suddenly my hand stopped. It had grabbed hold of my wrist. Its eyes shot open, fear and panic in them until it met mine. Then relief washed over its expression. It looked like they were trying to speak, but couldn’t form words with part of their throat torn.
They pulled my hand down towards them, and placed it against something that they had tucked against their chest. It was large and completely covered in blood and…other things. Slowly I brought my other hand to hold it properly as they tried to force me to take whatever it was. I stared at it, wiping away some of the blood from it, and seeing a shell.
It was warm.
So warm.
My hands were shaking and I was doing my best to hold onto what I knew was an egg.
The Delphox managed a weak smile, gazing at the egg in my hands. So many emotions raced across her face. Regret. Relief. Longing. Sadness. But eventually it settled into a soft, loving expression, placing her hand gently against the shell.
Slowly, her eyes dimmed, and soon her hand slipped. Yet her expression remained, her eyes never leaving what I was holding, a soft and loving gaze now forever unchanging. The ragged rising of her chest ceased, and she laid still.
I couldn’t look at her, but my eyes wouldn’t leave her and what she had given me. There was a feeling. It was intense. Indescribable. And it was like I knew. I knew so much, and my eyes finally pulled away to focus on the egg in my hands. My eyes burned, and I could feel the tears slowly running down my face.
I knew.
I don’t know how I knew…
But I knew…
Like a whisper in the back of my mind.
Gently, I wiped a bit more of the blood from the egg, whispering softly, “Hello Alma…”
Chapter 26
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
Liar - Liepard - Big hungry cat
Bungle - Houndour - Just a little pup
Disaster - Houndoom - Bit of a space case
Immodest - Mightyena - Super serious
Alma - Egg (Fennekin) - Not up to too much yet.
Chapter Text
I felt numb.
Even as I fumbled into my coat, pulling out Dee’s pokeball and letting her out beside me, I couldn’t seem to feel anything. She was briefly confused, but she immediately had a grim expression on her face. She checked the Delphox, but I already knew it was too late. It was too late before we even got here. The healing machines can’t replace things that are missing.
“What do I do, Dee?” I asked softly, getting her attention. My head felt fuzzy, and it was a bit difficult to see through my own tears.
She gently pulled me away, and I sat down on the ground. I wasn’t sure how long I was sitting there, but eventually Ezekiel came up. “Everyone’s dead,” he said, his voice rough, either from the smoke or trying to keep his emotions in check. “Four Team Flare members and all their Pokemon. Is-” his voice caught as he saw the sight.
Nothing needed to be said, and all of us remained silent as Dee went about helping clean the egg of blood and…other stuff that it was caked in. She also tried to clean me up, but most of my coat was already stained a darker shade. The only noise was the crackling of burning wood.
Eventually, it was Ezekiel that broke the silence again. “I knew this one,” he said, clearly struggling to get the words out. “She’s one of the strongest Pokemon in this part of Kalos… They must have-” his words faltered for a moment. “They must have tried to capture her right after she laid… Pokemon are… Are extremely vulnerable at that time.”
I don’t know why he was talking. Honestly I would really rather he be quiet so I can work out what I was feeling. The numbness was starting to fade.
But he continued. “There’s quite a few of her young that get to be starters…”
My eyes snapped to him as I realized what he was getting at. “Ezekiel,” I said coldly. “If you try to take this egg from me, you’re gonna have a bad time.”
He actually flinched at my statement and took a step back. I was also very keenly aware that his hand had moved slightly closer to his belt. “It’s a regional starter, Jason. Those are extremely guarded.”
“Apparently not,” I hissed, gesturing with a hand towards the body of the Delphox. “Don’t try,” I continued before he could even open his mouth. “You’re not going to win this argument.”
“I’m not the one you have to be worried about,” he said, clearly trying to diffuse the situation and backpedal. “The Association-”
“Won’t do anything,” I interrupted, slowly getting to my feet with Dee’s help. He actually took another step back from me, but I ignored him. Instead I put my focus on Dee. The scene around had clearly upset her - her hands were shaking - but I couldn’t help but feel proud at how well she was handling things. Although Ezekiel wasn’t helping things. “Finish your survey. I’m going back,” I said as I turned, heading towards Scoly.
My pace quickened when I actually saw her expression. Dee was quick to match me, realizing it as well. She was in shock. Eyes seeming to have glazed over. Dee wordlessly took the egg from me, swaddling it in some blankets that she had pulled from my bag. To be able to do that while moving at a quick jog was extremely impressive. Dee was such a good nurse.
“Hey. Hey. Scoly. Look at me,” I said the moment I was in front of her.
She didn’t even glance down at me.
I made sure to wipe the blood off of my hands before I reached up and grabbed her horns, forcing her head down, partially to block her sight and partially to make her look at me. “Scoly.”
Her eyes seemed to focus and immediately started flooding with tears and she shoved her head against my chest, and would have taken me off my feet if I didn’t have a hold of her horns. I began to gently rub her head and neck as I gently pulled on her, leading her away. She didn’t resist and followed.
This was probably really hard for her to look at. Her first experience with death. Or…maybe it wasn’t. It honestly might not be, now that I was thinking about it. While the thought had crossed my mind a few times, I never asked how the little bug came to be with Cara. This could just be a reminder of awful events. I would need to talk to Cara about it.
“You’re okay,” I said softly as I guided her away. “I’m here… I’ve got you, my big bug…” She pressed harder into me, which just caused me to walk a bit faster than I intended, but I continued to whisper soft words of comfort.
I reached out to place a hand on Dee, making sure to keep a close watch on her as well. She was quietly crying, cradling the egg in her arms. Of course, I wasn’t much better. I wasn’t sure when I had started crying again, but I was. Although I had managed to calm down considerably, I was still reeling from that.
Mutual destruction.
They had come here with the intention of either capturing her, or killing her. She was a source of, most likely, powerful starters. It wasn’t that much of a leap to assume that Team Flare wanted her to either join them or die. Bunch of zealots probably weren’t even concerned they might not survive.
Why would they be? Lysandre could just… bring them back or something when he remade the world. Whether that was possible or not didn’t matter, as long as they believed it to be true.
But those Pokemon…
That was where all my grief came from.
The humans knew what they were getting into. Knew the risks. They wouldn’t have gone after her if they didn’t understand what they were getting into. Unless they were complete idiots. Which…yeah, okay, that is pretty likely. They could have just been idiots. They do follow Lysandre, afterall.
Or, well, they did.
Past tense.
Probably shouldn’t make jokes like that, but screw those guys.
I am upset and am allowed to use a bit of dark humor, right? To cheer myself up?
My internal dialogue was disrupted when I bumped into a tree. None of us had been paying attention to where we were going and now I was pinned against a tree. Scoly was starting to calm down, but she still had her face firmly pressed into my chest, which means her horns were tucked around me. I could feel her many little legs gripping onto my coat, and I was briefly reminded of how Scolipedes hunt.
“You’re okay,” I said softly, not having stopped rubbing her head and neck. Now that we had stopped, Dee had moved closer, pressing her face against my side.
We stood there for probably an hour before Dee spoke, her voice a bit hoarse, “We’re going to need a lot of things… to take care of this one…”
“We are,” I agreed, rubbing the back of her head. “I’ve never taken care of an egg, or newly hatched Pokemon.”
Dee huffed. “We’ll need three months worth of specialty food while it’s in the infant stage. But… if this was freshly laid, and I think Ezekiel was right about that, we have a while before it hatches.”
“How long?” I asked.
She shrugged. “We’ll have to go to a Pokecenter to check… And get an incubator.”
“Are there portable incubators? I don’t want to leave it somewhere…” Thankfully Dee nodded, though she didn’t respond otherwise. The words Ezekiel had said about the Association being difficult about this was not something I was going to take lightly, so keeping the egg with me was a given. I was more than prepared to fight tooth and nail to make sure they didn’t take Alma.
Which was another matter entirely. I knew that this egg was Alma. It was like…someone told me. Was that the Earth Mother? It wasn’t really a voice, but there were definitely some semblance of words. That had to be the Earth Mother, or maybe it was the Delphox? They were a psychic type so that was possible.
Either way, the words had been clear, even if I hadn’t really heard them. They had been clear; “Please take care of Alma.”
And whether it was the words of some powerful god-like being, or the dying request of a mother, there was no way in hell anyone was taking Alma away from me.
Leaning down, I pressed my forehead against Scoly as I took deep breaths to steady myself. It was always interesting to me that her carapace was warm. When I looked at her for some reason I expected her shell to be cold to the touch.
I thought about calling out someone else. Cara might be able to help. But I didn’t want to expose anyone to what was happening. Not yet. Not while we were still that close. Even if I couldn’t see the bodies, I could still see the smoke. Still see the burnt trees.
I wanted to get away, but Scoly and Dee were still clinging to me. I felt horrible that I brought Dee out. I should have returned Scoly the moment she froze to minimize her exposure to it. So many things I should have done. So many things that I shouldn’t have.
My mind was a mess of what ifs.
I felt sick.
The shock of the situation was starting to wear off, and comprehension was crashing into me hard.
Fuck I was still covered in blood.
It had all dried by now. My coat was going to have darker spots on it forever. The sleeves especially. Would people be able to tell it was blood? Was it going to smell like blood?
I was trying very hard to not have a mental breakdown.
I’d never seen a dead body before.
Why would I have? I wasn’t a violent man. I did my best to avoid dangerous situations. Sure, I got into a few rough spots, but no one ever died… That I know of. But I never got into any situation like that. I was a teacher for fucks sake. My biggest concern was making sure those damned kids didn’t get themselves hurt climbing a rope or something.
And Ezekiel sure seemed to brush off that shock real quick. Immediately starting to try and take Alma from me. What the hell was with his priorities? Had he seen a lot of death? My mind went back to the numbers I’d been told. Seventy percent quit, fifty percent due to injury or death. What was the exact percentage of deaths?
That was so stupid. I was sure those statistics were like that because of people withholding knowledge. Or these damn villain teams. How many of those injuries and deaths are because of villains like Team Flare?
Turning some of my emotions towards anger was doing quite an oddly good job at calming me down. Well, not quite calming, moreso settling. My skull felt scrambled. Muddled like I hadn’t slept in days. Or I had another concussion.
“Let’s go,” I said softly, wanting to get further away from the smell of burning.
I was extremely thankful that the only thing I could smell was burning wood.
It took a bit more coaxing to get Scoly moving again. Not because she was reluctant to move, but more because she didn’t realize the reason she couldn’t just keep walking was there was a tree in the way. She was really out of it.
After we walked to the point I couldn’t smell the burning anymore, we finally stopped. We’d probably gone further than needed, and I had just been catching the scent clinging to me, but it was fine. Being far away from that was a good thing.
Scoly seemed to agree that we’d gone far enough, as the large bug's legs seemed to give out on her. Not from physical exhaustion, but from being mentally drained. She nearly toppled both Dee and I when she collapsed.
I took a moment to center myself before letting everyone out. I had been doing my best not to let them see what was happening, since I knew they could vaguely see from the pokeballs, and from how confused they all looked and the barrage of questions, I had succeeded.
Cara was immediately on high alert the moment she was out. Her stance was tense and she started to check me over rather roughly. Pulling on my coat this way and that, and shoving me around. From the way her nose scrunched, I figured she could smell the blood. As could a few others it seemed, as there were quite a few worried gazes on Scoly, Dee, and me.
Dee had blood on her as well. I don’t know how I didn’t notice that before. And she was still cradling the wrapped up egg.
“You should have brought me out,” Cara scolded as she continued to fuss over me.
“Yes, I’m sorry,” I said softly, slight amusement creeping in.
“What if there had been more danger?” she continued.
“Yes, yes.” I reached towards her to pat her head but stopped, looking at the blood that was still staining my hands. It was all mostly clean now. Was I just imagining that there was still blood on it? Maybe just a trick of the light making my hand look a bit more red than normal.
The motion didn’t go unnoticed by her and she grabbed at my hand before placing it on top of her head. She took in a deep breath, not saying anything more. She was upset. That had clearly shaken her, even though she hadn’t seen it first hand, her sensing abilities were well above and beyond anyone else's. It wouldn’t be lying to say she could perceive the area around better than I could with my eyes. While I watched the Delphox die, she probably felt it.
Quite abruptly she moved away and began to check on Scoly. She gave her quite a similar treatment, being quite rough and checking to make sure she was okay. I noted that Scoly didn’t get a scolding, but instead Cara was full of words of comfort and reassurance.
Dee let out a soft sigh as she handed the egg over to me, as we both knew what was about to happen. The moment the canine was done with the bug she moved on to the nurse. It was immediately apparent that she was far more gentle about it.
Scoly and I exchanged looks before I shrugged and Scoly decided to go and join the rest of Team Speed Shell, whom Rio had managed to get started on training. On the surface the younger blue canine looked fine, but it was clear to me that she was distracting herself. While her aura sensing wasn’t as good as her mothers, I had no doubt she’d felt it, too. Training was a good distraction for her.
The only one that didn’t join the training was Primarina. She was leaning against me slightly. She hadn’t said anything, and hadn’t looked at me, nor at the egg. It didn’t look like she wanted to talk. Just…wanted to be close. Which I was fine with. She was probably going through a lot in her head.
Members of Team Noncombatant however seemed very interested in the egg. Mikyu especially seemed interested, as she actually climbed up onto my shoulder to get a better look. Her eyes were absolutely shining. “Egg…” came her soft voice.
“This is the newest member of our family,” I replied softly
The head of her costume turned a bit to face me, and I almost fell for her puppetry before remembering that her eyes were actually down in her torso, and those little eyeslots hadn’t left the egg.
A soft tug at my coat brought my attention downwards. Essy and Banette were also at my feet, the latter the one doing the tugging. Kneeling down and leaning against Primarina a bit, I showed them the egg. Banette seemed absolutely fascinated, much in the same way Mikyu was. Was this a ghost thing? They both seemed absolutely enraptured.
Banette’s coat didn’t match mine anymore.
Essy just looked curious, but that was the expression she usually had when not stuffing her face full of pokebeans. But there was something a bit more there. Perhaps all three of them were feeling the psychic energy? Or maybe they were just enamored by a Pokemon egg.
Turning focus onto the egg turned out to be a fantastic way to ground myself back into reality. Everything had lost that sort of haze around the edges that I had just started to get used to.
Apparently Dee had completely cleaned the egg. It looked nothing like the game or anime. First off, it was several shades of red. It wasn’t smooth, and instead had quite an interesting texture to it. Something similar to large symbols or designs all across the shell. They were like swirling flames. What did match was the size. It was easily larger than any egg I’d ever seen in my previous life. And I’ve seen an ostrich egg.
My attention was soon grabbed by the crashing of a tree nearby.
Looking over, everyone had stopped what they were doing to look at the tree. After a few questioning - and a bit accusatory - gazes sent towards the training group, it was easy to discover the culprit. And of course, she looked so pleased with herself.
“This is why we train in clearings,” I scolded lightly, pointedly looking at Diancie as I spoke.
Of course the small floating rock Pokemon was oblivious to any wrongdoings. She was simply lifting another large chunk of earth, and then looked around confused when everyone else seemed to no longer be playing her game. Her Gravity wasn’t active, which was rare when they were training, but someone must have convinced her to not do it with so many trees.
That was the struggle with training Diancie. She was extremely powerful, but she treated it all as a game. It made me reluctant to use her in battle. She had never been truly attacked. Everyone was always hesitant to get her attention by attacking her, as she tended to hard focus on anyone who did. I needed to have a conversation with her about if she wanted to battle seriously, or just play fight.
“Let’s have an early dinner,” I said as I stood up. It was a few hours earlier than normal, but I wanted to do a task. Something to busy my hands with. And so that I could wash up.
No one complained at my plan, and quickly moved to help set things up. Having the new kitchen was more of a boon than I could ever really explain. It made things so much easier. I even changed one of the counter spaces into a deep sink. Emptying my pockets and placing everyone's pokeballs down, I had Primarina fill it with water before shoving my coat into it.
The water immediately turned a very dark red.
With a frown, I drained it and filled it again. It took three times before the water stopped turning red, and I left it to soak for a bit as I went about making dinner with Dee. Primarina refused to leave my side, and I nearly tripped over her a few times. Dee had to physically move her several times. She was being very clingy.
Once everyone had their food I glanced at my phone before putting together my own plate. We were still out of service range. Probably wouldn’t get back into range until sometime tomorrow. Since I had no plans of meandering and exploring, it probably wouldn’t take too long to get back to the gym. A day or two probably. While Ezekiel and I had been going fairly quickly, we hadn’t been in a rush.
I still wasn’t in a rush, but I would let Scoly run as fast as she wanted tomorrow. Hopefully it would be a good distraction, and a good way for her to let out her emotions.
But it was annoying. I had a phone call to make. And I had probably received some.
My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden rippling pressure.
Cara was immediately in front of me. Between me and the one that had exuded the pressure. A very familiar looking blue bellied Mewtwo was standing at the boundary of where my kitchen ended. They looked…curious. I put a hand on Cara’s shoulder, squeezing it slightly as I pulled another plate towards me. “Glad to see you’re doing well. Want something to eat? Do you know what sort of flavor you like?”
There was silence for a moment as I looked over what we had for leftovers. Cara’s head slowly turned to look at me, she practically screamed at me with her expression; ‘Excuse me? What are you doing?’
“Flavor?” It was an oddly familiar voice, but it very much lacked any of the bite that it had last time.
“Yeah, like… Do you like spicy? Sweet?” I looked over things. “We’re out of dry,” I mumbled, but that wasn’t surprising considering that Dee the glutton was very fond of dry curry. Primarina and Disaster were also big fans, but that pink Pokemon could put away more food than those two combined.
They were suddenly on the other side of the counter, curiously looking at the things I was doing. Cara whipped around to face them again. Clearly she had been caught off guard by the speed of the moment, but that had been teleportation so it was no wonder she couldn't track it. Did she have any experience fighting someone who could teleport? Psychic Pokemon weren't super common, so probably not.
Now that they were closer, I got a good look at them again. They still looked haggard and malnourished, but there were some slight improvements. They didn't look like they were in pain. The poor thing was lacking in every single type of nutrient and vitamin. Were they using their own energy to keep themselves going? Was that a thing? More likely it was the fact that Pokemon were so much tougher.
I remained quiet as they seemed to study all of the different remnants of curry, giving them curious sniffs. They looked so tired. I didn’t think a Pokemon could have eye bags like that.
Hesitantly, they reached forward and I saw the way that Cara tensed, but they pointed at one of the pots. “That’s sweet curry,” I explained as I plated some rice and poured a good heaping of curry onto it. I really needed to get that pasta maker to get the variety I wanted. Discovering the kitchen had completely pushed that thought out of my head.
As I expected, they were hesitant to touch the plate when I pushed it towards them.
“It’s better when it’s still warm,” I encouraged softly as I plated up some for myself, making it very obvious that I took some from the same pot when I did. I turned my focus to Cara. “It’s alright. Go finish your dinner.”
“But-” she started to protest, but stopped when I smiled a bit at her. She looked between me and the Mewtwo a few times before she huffed. “I’m watching you,” she grumbled at the other bipedal Pokemon before she moved back to her food. Though she quite pointedly moved closer before she started eating.
I leaned a bit against the counter before starting to eat, paying attention to the Pokemon on the other side, who was still staring at the plate. “Why?”
“Hm?” I looked up at them, a bit confused at their question. I could guess what their question was, but couldn’t be sure.
“Why did you destroy the ball?” Their mouth didn’t move as they spoke, clearly communicating telepathically.
“Ah, you mean this thing,” I said as I reached into my bag, pulling out the two halves of the Masterball. They tensed and the pressure rise was almost immediate. I could practically taste the fear that radiated off them. Before they got too worked up, I put the broken ball down in front of them and went back to eating. “Easiest way to stop things.”
They visibly relaxed when they seemed to realize that the Masterball was still broken. Just the sight of it had caused them to start spiraling. “I have…been worried.”
I paused, looking at the two halves for a moment. “That it would be fixed or something?” They nodded. “I don’t know if that’s possible. Although I took it to make sure no one could use it against you. Honestly surprised you showed yourself to me.”
“You saved me,” they said simply. As if that was all the reason they needed to expose themselves to a Trainer.
A soft snort escaped me. “I saved myself and my family. While I hoped you would stop if I helped you, I had no guarantee you wouldn’t have kept attacking. Your species is…” I tried to think of how to word it.
“Destructive,” they offered. “I am not the strongest of my siblings, but I might have been able to bring down that accursed building.”
I felt a chill run down my spine at the mention of siblings. I wanted to ask how many there were, but something told me that would be a bad idea. “I was hoping that you’d turn your focus onto that man and we could escape.”
Their hand clenched at the mention of the ex-Director. I was very glad I’d not mentioned him by name. “Your gamble was correct.”
I nodded a bit. “Please eat before it gets cold,” I said as I turned my attention back to my own plate.
They hesitated, but I could actually hear their stomach growling. Their hesitation continued up until the moment they took that first bite. Food was truly the greatest way to make friends. If a Tapu, a sort of Legendary, had succumbed so easily, what could this poor, starved and mistreated Mewtwo do to withstand the allure? Now they were practically shoveling it into their mouth, looking like they were trying to not cry.
There was a certain pride to seeing someone enjoy the food I made. Although it was more that I felt smug about it? No one had turned down my food. Sure, it wasn’t my recipe. Sure, I felt like I was cheating. And there was definitely something almost supernatural about the curry and its effects. But I could say the same about pokeblocks and pokebeans. This world definitely worked on a very different sort of logic than my old one. Thankfully it wasn’t like Food Wars. Although… I guess I wouldn’t have to worry about clothes flying everywhere considering Pokemon didn’t wear them. Well, Cara and Rio wore pants. Right? I think? Wasn’t that officially confirmed at one point?
When I zoned back in, the Mewtwo was staring at the empty plate in front of them. The plate looked like it was unused; completely clean. Did it know how to feed itself? How to get food in the wild? I didn’t want to pry, but this felt important enough that I should risk offending them. “What do you normally eat?” I asked, being very careful in how I worded my question.
“Berries… sometimes…” their voice came out, softer than before.
There couldn’t be many berries around. It was the middle of winter. So many conflicting thoughts and questions bounced around in my head. Did I want to take them with me? I didn’t even want to ask. That seemed like an extremely dangerous train of thought. If I don’t take them with me, how do I help? Can I help them?
Their eyes suddenly moved upwards and locked onto me, making me realize I was staring. Although, their gaze didn’t make me stop looking at them. “You need to eat more,” I said bluntly. “A lot more,” I added, before turning my attention back to my food and finishing my food.
There was no response. Whether this was because they just didn’t have anything to say, or I had stunned them into silence, I had no way of knowing. When I glanced at them they looked… thoughtful? Confused? Their expressions were actually hard to read.
“What do I eat?” they asked, having decided to ask what was on their mind.
I hesitated. That was a good question. My gaze immediately snapped to Cara. She was the only wild Pokemon that would be able to properly explain things to the Mewtwo. Of course, Cara seemed to immediately know what I had in mind and frowned at me. “Cara?” I questioned softly.
She glared at me for a moment before sighing. “Alright. I’ll… teach them…or something.”
“Thank you,” I said with a smile. The Mewtwo looked confused at the interaction, and so I decided to explain. “Cara is going to help you figure out what to eat.”
They nodded slowly after a moment. “Okay.”
I watched them for a moment as Cara started to explain hunting and foraging before moving out to the other Pokemon to gather dishes. It looked like everyone was finished eating now. But I was concerned about this Mewtwo. They were extremely powerful, and intelligent, but they were severely lacking in knowledge. How much time had they simply spent in the pokeball, only ever being able to see the outside world when they had a task? How often were they fed?
My eyes traveled to the broken Masterball on the counter. They hadn’t even looked at it after they realized it was still broken, but actively kept it in their peripheral. Like a kid trying not to make it obvious they were looking at their phone during class. The thought made me smile a bit.
When I got back to the sink I frowned and sighed, pulling my coat out of the water. I had actually forgotten about it. The water was still tinted a bit red, but this would have to do until I could give it a proper wash. I wrung it out a bit before emptying the sink and having Primarina help me wash the dishes.
I did my best to pretend the Mewtwo was just another Pokemon. At the very least, they were an extremely good distraction. Something to keep my focus on.
Once we were done, we cleaned up everything and put it and the portable kitchen into my bag. I left the Masterball on the ground and I tried to think of what to do about my soaked coat. I glanced at Bungle and Disaster, but that felt like a bad idea. So I just hung it up on a branch and started to set up the tent. Thankfully that went quickly as everyone started to help out.
From the occasional glance at Cara and Mewtwo, the two seemed to be in deep conversation, with Cara showing the other Pokemon a lot of things nearby. The Mewtwo seemed absolutely fascinated.
Eventually the two of them came over to me as I was sitting just inside the tent, simply watching the Pokemon. Eevee was curled up in my lap, and Primarina was leaning against me. The large seal was doing her best to comfort me in her own way and I really appreciated it. “Well, they won’t starve,” Cara grumbled as she entered the tent and sat down beside me.
I chuckled softly. “Good. Thank you.”
“Yes, thank you,” the Mewtwo said, bowing their head.
I hesitated a moment, but I needed to ask, “What are your plans for the future?”
Their brow furrowed a bit and they stared down at the ground. It took quite a bit for them to answer, “I don’t know.”
A bit of a smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “Well, you’re welcome to stay in these woods. I technically own everything from the city to the river.”
They blinked at me. “You hold such a large territory? It is no wonder I lost to someone so powerful.”
I couldn’t help but snort. “Not in that way. Humans have a thing called property.”
“Ah, I have heard of that,” they nodded. “Papers and money are exchanged for that.”
“Yes. Well, according to humans, I own this land.”
Again they nodded, but looked at me curiously. “I feel that I must ask… It makes sense that you were able to withstand my control, but how did that little one?” Their eyes were focused on Eevee.
My brow furrowed a bit. “I don’t know enough about how energy works to give you a good answer, but I assume that it was because she was asleep, close in contact with me, or I blocked it from getting to her. Or some combination.”
Their face scrunched. “That is not… or… wait…mmmm maybe?” They tilted their head to the side, studying the small Pokemon in my lap. “From what I know, none of that should have stopped it. But I am not all knowing.”
“Maybe you missed her?” I suggested, now also curious.
“No, I sensed her when I attempted to take control of you all. But she…” Their head tilted to the other side. “Resisted?”
“Would her not having a lot of internal energy be able to prevent it?” I asked.
The Mewtwo’s eyes suddenly glowed, and Eevee gained a similar tint. Everyone nearby tensed. “Hm… Their energy channels are damaged… Perhaps the flow was not able to flow properly because I was being too broad with my control…” they mumbled to themself as the glow faded. They nodded, seemingly satisfied with that. “The world is vast and my knowledge is lacking.”
“Which sort of brings me back to my previous question,” I reminded, relaxing now that I realized they were just examining the little fox. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” they said, much quicker this time. There was also a slightly bitter undertone to their voice.
“Well…” I started slowly, trying to think through if this would be a good idea. “If you stay on this land, I can at least partially guarantee that you won’t be bothered by most humans.” When they gave me a confused look, I explained to them about my idea for a Pokemon Reserve, and why I had so much land. They seemed interested, but it was clear they didn’t understand.
“So… if I stay in this place, people will not attempt to recapture me?” they asked.
I shook my head. “Unfortunately, no. It wouldn’t be a zero chance, it would just be less of one. I want the Reserve to be a safe space…but there are some truly awful people out there.”
They seemed to think this over for a moment before nodding a bit. “Then we shall see.”
There was another question that was burning in my head, about the ex-Director. But I had a feeling it was safe to assume that he was dead. “It’s just an option. The world is vast, as you said. I’m sure you’ll find your place in it.”
“A place in it?” they mumbled, tilting their head. “What is your place?”
I laughed softly. “No idea. I’ve not found it yet. Some kind of… Wanderer, maybe? I’ve not really got a place to call my own. Even though I technically own this land, it’s not mine. It belongs to the Pokemon that live here, now and in the future.” I sighed a bit.
Primarina nudged me a bit, and I smiled as I started to pet her head. “Most wander,” Cara said, a bit of a frown on her face as she watched the Mewtwo. I was honestly really glad that she was dealing with this so well.
The Mewtwo was watching us curiously, though I wasn’t paying them too much attention. After a moment their gaze slowly moved away and off into the distance. “I must find shelter,” they seemed to decide suddenly. Clearly that had been something Cara had explained to them during their little lesson.
“Take that with you,” I said as I pointed at the remains of the Masterball.
They were obviously hesitant to even glance at it. “Why?”
“So that you know where it is. And can… I don’t know, destroy it or something?” I paused. “If I keep it, I’m going to eventually be tempted to have someone look at it.”
Their eyes narrowed a bit at me, and the two halves were enveloped in a soft light before they floated over towards the standing figure. “Farewell.”
“See you later,” I said with a bit of a smile.
Then they were gone.
Cara immediately let out a sigh of relief.
I reached over and nudged her. Her expression suddenly turned rather fierce towards me. “Why were you so nice to them?”
I blinked at her. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because they are our enemy,” she growled.
“Were,” I said. “Past tense. They were our enemy. But they aren’t anymore.” I gestured vaguely at where they were standing. “They were being forced to do what they did, just like you were.”
She looked like she wanted to continue arguing, but my words had clearly taken all the wind out of her sails and she slumped. “But they attacked us…”
“You’re too quick to hold grudges,” I said as I grabbed hold of her, pulling her into a hug. “They didn’t want to do that,” I spoke softly.
Cara made a half-hearted attempt to push away, but didn’t really put any strength into it. “Why did they even show up?”
I gently started rubbing her head. “They came to apologize and thank us for helping them. Even though they didn’t say it, that was their intent. They’re just… They don’t know how to interact with others.” I wondered if they had been keeping track of me. Honestly that probably would be easy for a powerful psychic, since according to Olympia I show up as a big black smudge or something. Otherwise it would be one hell of a coincidence that they would find me the moment I was alone, in the wilderness, where I couldn't contact anyone. It was a good thing that their intentions weren't malicious or there would have been one hell of a fight.
The only thing that Cara gave as a response was a huff.
The rest of the evening was uneventful, and eventually we all laid down to sleep. Dee kept the egg with her, since she argued she was the most qualified. Of course I didn’t argue, though she continued to explain it for several minutes. I had to reassure her that I no problem with her doing that. I was just really hoping I wasn’t going to be plagued by nightmares. Thankfully I wasn’t.
Unfortunately, Scoly was.
I was shoved rather hard suddenly, toppling over other Pokemon into a heap of Eevee, Banette, Mikyu, Rio, Cara, and Diancie. It took a moment for me to figure out what happened, quickly moving over to her and wrapping my arms around her neck. She had woken up, and was thrashing a bit as she was trying to figure out where she was.
“Scoly. It’s okay,” I said, trying to hold onto her tightly. Everyone else was quick to join in, and Dee was easily able to hold her in place. It took several minutes for her to calm down enough to be able to realize where she was.
She was crying, and just sobbed harder when she came to her senses. It took an hour or so before she settled down enough to fall asleep again. The sleeping arrangements had changed, and I was sitting up, leaning against Cara and Dee with Scoly’s head in my lap. Due to her size, there wasn’t really much room for anyone else on me, but no one was bothered by this and just piled on top of Scoly instead.
I wasn’t sure if I could fall asleep, especially with Cara and Dee talking softly behind me. It looked like they couldn’t sleep either.
Eventually everyone else was asleep, and I was just staring out into the darkness of the tent. Portable television. I needed one of those. And a pasta machine. Because we were out of service range, we probably wouldn’t have access to any shows. Did they use DVD’s? Disk technology was a thing, so that was probably a thing.
“Jace?” came a soft voice from behind me. It was Cara.
I made a slight noise of confirmation that I heard her, “Mm?”
“Oh, you are awake…” she mumbled. "Your breathing had not settled."
“Yeah,” I replied softly. There was a few minutes of silence before I asked a question that I had thought of earlier. “Cara? What happened to Scoly’s parents?”
It was silent for a long time, but that was fine. Eventually she did respond, though her voice was so low that I barely heard her. “I killed them.”
I didn’t say anything, and just nodded. That was one of the possibilities I had thought of. I wasn’t about to judge her on it. Thinking about the Delphox, and how close in age Rio and Scoly seemed to be, I could reason why.
“I didn’t have a choice,” she continued, her voice a bit louder, clearly wanting to make sure that I heard her explanation of her actions. “Their pack was hunting us. They cornered us. And then that… One of them said they were going to eat my child and make me watch… for being difficult.”
Reaching back, I grabbed hold of her hand. She was shaking slightly.
“Rio had just hatched. She couldn’t defend herself.” She took in a few deep breaths. “I just… Started fighting. And didn’t stop. Most of them fled, but I killed a lot of them… And found Scoly on one of the Scolipede. She was… too young to take care of herself, and I felt horrible… So I took her and raised her along with Rio.”
I nodded a bit, squeezing her hand. We fell into silence for a few moments before I asked a question, “Does Scoly know?”
Cara nodded. “Yes… She saw it. And we’ve talked about it a few times. She’s never… never really brought it up on her own. She’s said she understands what happened, and why. But it doesn’t make me feel any better about it…”
“Yeah…” I looked down at Scoly, gently running my hand over her head. I wasn’t sure if I was happy about getting the explanation, but it was something I needed to know. It did a lot to help me understand the big bug. The reason why she was so eager to cling to me. Why she didn’t hesitate when I asked if they wanted to join me. There was probably some sort of mental barrier between her and Cara that she could never really get over, so she jumped at the chance to have a parental figure.
I wasn’t sure if I eventually fell asleep, or just completely lost track of time, but morning came. Everyone got their pokeblocks before returning to their pokeballs. All of them made a fuss about it, not wanting to.
“I’m going to be riding Scoly back to the gym,” I explained. “Some of you can’t keep up with her.”
That had been enough to get them all to give up. The problem was the egg. I couldn’t put it in my bag - something to do with living things outside of pokeballs not being able to go into expanded storage - so I had to carry it.
With Dee’s help, we made a sort of makeshift carrier out of a blanket that I could tie around my chest. Made me think I was carrying a baby. Which… I guess technically I was? Pokemon eggs were interesting. Nothing to do with steps like in the games, which honestly thinking about it was a weird concept? How would the egg going a certain distance hatch it? I guess it was just the only mechanic they could think of.
Once everyone aside from Scoly was back in their pokeball, I moved up to the bug, grabbing hold of her horns and pressing my forehead against hers. “You’re a good bug. My big bug horse,” I said softly. “And I want you to know I’m here. Okay?”
Her face had gotten a bit red, but she was returning the pressure a bit. “Okay.”
“I’m here for you, and you can talk to me about anything.” I started to rub the back of her neck.
She didn’t respond, and we stayed like that for a bit before I pulled away. I rubbed between her horns a bit before clambering up onto her back. It was a bit more difficult to get up with the egg, but I managed.
After making sure I was properly seated, I nodded. “Okay. Let’s see how far we can get before nightfall.”
The big bug didn’t need any more prompting and took off through the trees. We’d been going for quite a while when I suddenly started getting pings and notification noises from my phone. Apparently we had gotten back into service range.
I had Scoly slow down a bit as I pulled out my phone. I had a few messages. Diantha was annoyed that the Rangers were now pestering her about the Reserve and all that. Which made me smile. Valerie sent me messages, annoyed that I didn’t tell her that I was going off into the wilderness. Apparently Hate had told Ren, and Ren had explained it to her. I guess it did slip my mind. Finally… Missed calls from Professor Kukui… I knew what that would be about.
I hesitated for a few moments before sighing, and calling the Professor. It rang quite a few times, and I realized I had no idea what time it was in Alola right now. I was about to hang up and just try later when it suddenly connected. “Alola, Jace. There you are.” While I could tell he was trying to be be his usual upbeat self, there was clearly something weighing on his mind.
“Alola. Yeah. Sorry, Kukui, I’ve been outside of service range,” I explained.
He arched a brow at me, clearly curious, but there were more important things to talk about. “I… The reason I called you.” He took a deep breath. “Alma passed.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, sighing rather heavily.
“We found him on the beach… I guess he was waiting to watch the sunrise and-” he paused. “Wait, you know?”
I nodded a bit. “Do you believe in reincarnation, Professor?”
He looked puzzled for a moment, before nodding slowly. “Yes.”
A smile pulled a bit at the corner of my mouth as I tilted the phone down to show the swaddled egg against my chest. “Well, I was told that this is Alma.”
His expression shifted from confusion into a sad understanding. “Ah… I see.” He let out a long, slow breath. “So that’s what you meant by knowing. Damn…”
“He told me he wanted to have a Trainer like me,” I said with a sad chuckle. “Glad he got his wish.”
Kukui nodded a bit. “He talked about you quite a bit. I feel…kinda bad. Because he asked me to check in on you, and... I never got around to it.”
“Well, looks like he beat you to it.” That put a bit of a smile on both of our faces. “I’ve been busy.”
“Yeah? How many badges you got?” he asked, leaning against the railing of wherever he was. Probably on the balcony of the lab, since I could see the ocean in the dark background.
“Just two.” He arched an eyebrow at me. “Got caught up in dealing with Team Flare,” I explained and shook my head.
“Team Flare?” he mused, tilting his head. “That’s one of those villain teams, right?”
I nodded. “Speaking of which… How’s Team Skull?”
He snorted. “I don’t know what the hell you did to Guzma, but he’s had quite the shift. They still have a sort of... gang feel to them, but they’re at least trying to be helpful now. Still getting in trouble constantly, though.”
I nodded again. “How is Guzma specifically?”
“He’s… different?” he said, clearly a bit puzzled. “He’s still as sarcastic and abrasive as ever, but he’s got a certain drive to him now and he’s not lashing out as much.”
“Good,” I said, nodding. I was very glad that I was able to get through to him and have it stick. I had been worried that he would just slip back into how he was.
“Yeah. I gotta ask… What the heck did you say to him?” he asked with quite a big smile.
“You’ll have to ask him yourself if you want to know,” I immediately shut that down. “It was a lot of personal stuff.”
The smile on his face faltered a bit. “Fine. Alright. Well, I’m going back to bed.”
“Sorry for waking you,” I said with a chuckle.
“No worries. Alola.”
“Alola.”
He hung up, and I just stared at the phone for a moment. If what I had told Guzma had really stuck, then Alola was going to be very different by the time I got back there. Thankfully it didn’t seem like I was fighting against some sort of god-like power of fate or something.
I apologized to Valerie about not explaining things. She eventually accepted my apology, but made quite a big deal about it. As for Diantha… I sent a rather simple response; ‘Hahahahah.’ To which she replied with a frowny face.
We ended up having to camp again, although I thought we made really good progress. We had stopped for afternoon pokeblocks, and to let everyone stretch a bit. Even though I was fairly certain that wasn’t necessary, it was probably good for their mental health. We didn’t have another visit from the Mewtwo, which I was thankful for. Even though they weren’t hostile, I would be lying if I said their presence didn’t make me nervous.
The night passed without another incident, though I was fairly certain Scoly had another nightmare, she didn’t have a violent reaction to it.
Much to my surprise, we actually arrived back at the edge of Laverre before night fell. I wasn’t aware we had meandered that much during our trip.
Despite what I said, our first stop wasn’t the gym, but was instead the Pokecenter. Scoly had been a bit confused, but understood when I pointed out the egg.
Riding through town was quite an experience. I wasn’t entirely sure why Ezekiel and I hadn’t done so when we were leaving. There weren’t any laws against riding Pokemon in town. I had to dismount Scoly when we finally got to the Pokecenter, which thankfully was easier now that I had some practice. Who knew a large egg would throw off something like that so much?
I returned Scoly before entering. As usual, there weren’t too many people. It took me almost the entire time as I walked across the room to figure out which Joy was at the counter. “Hello, Jason,” she greeted with a smile.
“Hello, Delphine,” I greeted in return, also giving her a smile.
Her eyes shifted to the bundle of cloth tied against my chest. “Is that…”
I nodded. “Yes. The circumstances about how it came into my care are…grim…”
She sighed a bit and nodded. “Evelyne is at the gym… do you want me to have her come over?”
I shook my head. “Not if she’s busy. I just need my Pokemon checked over and this one examined,” I said with a gesture at the bundle.
Again she sighed and nodded. “Come on back.” She led me through the door, and when she knocked I noticed two Joy’s. One was Rebecca, and the other I didn’t recognize. “Rebecca, can you assist me? Our Expert here has a lot of Pokemon that need checking, and an egg that needs examining.”
Rebecca gasped. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen a Pokegg.”
“Don’t call them that,” the other Joy scolded, though it was clearly in an amused way.
The other Joy’s just giggled. Clearly this was some kind of inside joke that I was not privy to. “Alright. Come on.”
The three of us headed down the hall, meeting a Wigglytuff on our way, who was quite confused at what was going on. “Wigglytuff, can you help me with all the Pokemon? Rebecca, please see to the egg,” Delphine ordered. She clearly had some sort of seniority, but I wasn’t sure how that worked.
They both nodded, and Wigglytuff came over to me with a tray and I started to unload the Pokemon I was carrying. Sixteen pokeballs, the last of which went on the tray after I returned Eevee. “Fuck that’s a lot of pokeballs,” Wigglytuff said, clearly caught off guard.
I laughed. “Perks of being an Expert.” Her cheeks went bright red when she realized I understood what she said. I wondered if she had been told, or if it was just obvious.
Dee was quick to pop out after that. “I shall assist.” The two Pokemon greeted each other, and started to quite animatedly chatter at each other about things. Dee had apparently started calling herself a Field Nurse, and I wondered where she got that from.
“This way, Jace,” Rebecca said as she guided me to a different room. “We have a special nursery exam room for eggs and infant Pokemon, since they can’t be put in pokeballs.”
I nodded as they followed. I was aware eggs couldn’t go into pokeballs, but infants couldn’t as well? That was interesting. That meant I would have to keep Alma out for quite a while until I could put them in a pokeball.
The room looked a lot different than any of the other exam rooms. This was probably one where they brought Trainers into. “Please place them there,” she said as she pointed to a sort of pillow under a bunch of things. I actually recognized some of the devices. They were similar to the examination machine that Kukui and Burnet had used.
It took a moment for me to un-swaddle the egg. Dee had maybe done a bit too good of a job at making it secure. Rebecca had to actually come and assist, giggling the entire time as she did.
“Wow…” she murmured as she looked the egg over now that it was situated on the pillow. “This is hardly over a day old.” She looked over at me as she started typing away at a control panel. “Parents?”
“I don’t know about the father, but the mother was a Delphox.” I hesitated. “Deceased.”
She froze, taking several seconds before she managed to look over at me.
“Team Flare,” I explained simply, and her mouth tightened into a thin frown. “They tried to capture her while she was weakened from laying the egg…”
“And killed her in the process,” she said with a heavy sigh, continuing her work. “Fuck, the Association is going to be pissed…”
“They’re going to be even more pissed when I refuse to hand over the egg,” I said with a bit of a smile.
A soft little snort escaped her and she nodded. “Oh that’s really going to piss them off. Someone getting a regional starter without permission… They’re going to throw a fit.” She moved back, folding her arms as she leaned against the wall. “Well, the egg is healthy. Delphox eggs take about three months till they hatch.”
“How difficult would it be to get a portable incubator?” I asked.
Her brow furrowed. “You’re not a breeder… but I don’t see why we couldn’t give you one.”
“Only breeders can get them?” That was interesting. Breeders were another profession in this world that I hadn’t had any interaction with.
“Usually, yeah. Trainers are really discouraged from breeding their own Pokemon, because it is a huge responsibility. Pokemon in the infant stage require near constant attention. Although… since you have a nurse Pokemon, she should be able to take care of it.”
I nodded. “So how do I get an incubator?”
“Oh, we can give you one,” she said with a rather mischievous looking smile. “We have a lot, since the breeders get them from us.”
Again I nodded, and smiled back at her. “Good. I was worried that it would be difficult.”
“I’ll be right back with one,” she said as she pushed herself off the wall and quickly rushed from the room.
The Joy’s were really all so different… It was interesting. I felt like Rebecca had a bit of a rebellious streak in her, judging by her expression. Clearly there were a lot more steps in getting an incubator that she was glossing over. Not that I was about to complain.
However, what I was going to complain about was the large backpack that she returned with. It was a large cylinder with straps attached to it. It was clearly not meant to be carried indefinitely, but for moving things from one place to another.
“Here you go,” she said as she gestured to the top. “This little panel shows a rough monitoring of the egg.” She punched in a few things, and the capsule opened with a soft hiss. She was extremely gentle as she put the egg inside, and closed it. It had quite a lot of padding, but the egg was still clearly visible.
Now that there was something in it, the screen had lit up. It was a simple display, showing ‘Healthy’ and below that was ‘96 Days’ which was clearly the time left till it hatched.
“It can’t display things too detailed, but it shows a rough estimate. As long as it shows healthy, everything’s good. If it ever changes, bring it to a Pokecenter as fast as possible,” Rebecca explained. “And if anyone asks, you have permission to have this,” she added with a pat on the incubator.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Okay. You make it sound like someone is going to ask.”
She waved a hand vaguely. “Nah. Probably not. Maybe.”
I chuckled softly. “Alright. Thank you.”
There was a massive grin on her face. “You’re welcome.”
Rebecca was definitely the type of person that I was glad was on my side.
Chapter 27
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
Liar - Liepard - Big hungry cat
Bungle - Houndour - Just a little pup
Disaster - Houndoom - Bit of a space case
Immodest - Mightyena - Super serious
Alma - Egg (Fennekin) - Not up to too much yet.
Chapter Text
Returning to the gym was oddly comforting. It might not be home, but it at least felt safe. Pokecenters used to feel safe, until they weren’t. I still could hardly believe that Team Flare attacked one just for one shiny Pokemon. They didn’t even try for the mythic. It really made no sense.
In the end, it doesn’t matter. Thankfully they were smart enough to not attack a gym. Or maybe getting beat so bad scared them off. Or maybe they were biding their time, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Maybe I was just being paranoid. Hard to tell.
But it was still nice.
I decided to take a break the next day and unwind… by observing several Pokemon fight each other in some sort of near sadistic glee. Keo and Scoly were getting really good at fighting together, to the point that Rio and Cara actually had to team up in order to fight them off. It used to be that the two blue canines would fight each other while staving off the attacks of the other two, but now they didn’t have that luxury.
And when you threw Primarina into the mix, it was an honestly brutal fight. She slipped in some places, mobility was definitely the seal's weakness when under the effects of Gravity, but she’d gotten very good at using her bubbles defensively. I wish she would use her singing more, but she seemed more focused on bubbles. That was probably from trauma and being the link that got us to bond.
But she wasn’t the problem.
The problem was Keo. Her improvement had been massive since she started training under Gravity. Even if she was still reluctant to listen to advice I gave her whenever she plateaued, she saw massive gains when she actually listened. That was a bit frustrating, but I wasn’t going to make her listen to me. She was getting better, but it was slow.
Sliggoo had also seen quite a lot of improvement. Her dragon energy had spiked so much since she evolved, and she was a surprising menace with her Dragon Breath. The problem when it came to the training is everyone was starting to form little duo’s so that they had someone to watch their back, and the little slug didn’t have anyone.
Diancie did not have this problem.
If the little slug was a menace, then Diancie was a terror. Rocks, diamonds, blasts of moonlight; all were at her disposal. And this session was honestly interesting. They had started to send more attacks at Diancie, and Rio and Cara started to actively attack pressure her… Well I was very interested to see her reaction. It was really the first time the focus of combat had started to actively be put on the big rock. She started taking hits, getting battered, and she clearly did not like that.
In fact, she didn’t like it so much that her retaliation was to Mega Evolve. The strange shift in energy that I had felt the first time on the beach was very different. I didn’t feel staggered, or drained at all in fact. It was more of just a shift rather than a pull. I wasn’t sure if this was due to being closer to Diancie now, or if it had to do with the strange ritual that had been undergone at the compass, but it was definitely easier.
And the destruction they all wrought as a result… Well, I had to end the training session early and explain to a panicked Valerie that we didn’t get attacked, it was just Diancie being extra. And we had to change rooms after everyone had a visit to the Pokecenter.
Putting the blame on a Mega Evolved mythic was more than a good enough excuse for a nearly destroyed training room and a rather sizable hole in the wall.
To me, it had honestly been worth it. Seeing the effects of Mega Evolution first hand like that told me quite a lot. The spike in power was noticeable, but not extreme.
But damn had I not been expecting all that.
It escalated so fast that I didn’t even realize they were taking it too far until it was too late. It quickly stopped being about training and just devolved into straight up fighting, and it only really stopped when Diancie was knocked out.
And oh boy was she not happy when I let her back out. I had to grasp hold of her hands to stop her from immediately starting to throw down again. I’d never seen her so pissed. It took almost an hour for me to explain to her how training is supposed to go, and how battles go. She was very confused and frustrated, and I realized I had never properly explained things to her.
“I still don’t like that they teamed up on me,” she grumbled at the end, having calmed down considerably, but was still upset.
“I know, I know,” I said as I continued to hold her hands. “But that happens during battles.”
She huffed, but had become more focused on my fingers. It took a while before she seemed satisfied with whatever fascination my fingers held for her and decided to go and do other things, which allowed me to make dinner.
I think everyone had a new found respect for the silly diamond Pokemon that threw rocks at them. While it hadn’t been a very long fight, she had battered all of them thoroughly before going down.
~
The next day I found myself in Snowbelle, literally wading through two feet of snow as I exited the train station. Valerie had told me to buy warmer clothes, and I was so glad I had listened to her. I spent two thousand on the biggest, puffiest, warmest coat that I could find, and wore it over my normal coat. Layers and all that. And had I mentioned how glad I was that I listened? Because damn it was cold. I had also bought a few other things that I hoped would be helpful in such a winter wonderland, but only time would tell.
Why did I think going to the snowiest, coldiest city in Kalos in the middle of winter was a good idea?
The incubator with Alma in it had been left at the gym with the wolf pack, since despite being called portable the thing was massive. It would not only make me a target, but I didn’t want to risk bringing it into battles if I could help it. After all, I was here to fight Wulfric.
I let Keo out, as she had made some rather interesting requests last night when I explained what we would be doing. “I hope you’re ready,” I said with a bit of a smile at her. She was the only one out. It was too cold to have anyone else out, including Eevee.
She looked around, and then looked me up and down. “You look ridiculous,” she commented before turning and trotting off a bit. She hardly even left prints in the snow, while I was up to my knees in the stuff.
Scoffing, I started to follow after her. She didn’t seem very bothered by my slow pace, as it gave her a chance to wander around and look at things. Our destination was the gym, and it wasn’t hard to spot. It was a massive thing up on the mountain, and if what the games had said was right, it was the reason Snowbelle was so cold.
Was it a weather machine? That had honestly been my thought when I saw it in the anime. It did look like some massive machine… Or maybe it was supposed to be something to research the anomaly? Depending on how amenable Wulfric was, maybe I could ask him.
As I walked through the oddly bustling streets, I marvelled at how pretty it was. This was clearly a city that went all out on Christmas. It was like one of those Christmas Village dioramas I was able to actually walk through. Warm light spilling from windows and decorations everywhere. There wasn’t a single tree without fairy lights. It was honestly beautiful, and I could only imagine how it would be at night.
There was even a gazebo with carolers in it. It took a while for me to figure out what they were singing, but it was similar to Deck the Halls. While I couldn’t say they were particularly good, they weren’t bad. To me, it looked like a group of friends who were just… messing around. Having fun.
Keo seemed absolutely enamoured with the lights and displays, constantly running around to get better looks at different things. I overheard a lot of people commenting about how adorable she was, and questioning what Pokemon she was. I happily explained to a few more of the outgoing passerbys that she was a Vulpix from Alola.
One couple talked about maybe planning their next trip over there, while a few were skeptical of my claims. Unfortunately someone commented on how it was amazing she was still so lively despite being crippled, and that really seemed to sour Keo’s mood. She stopped running around and just walked beside me, sulking.
“People really don’t know what they’re talking about,” I said with a bit of a smile down at her. While she had made it very clear that my words of encouragement meant very little to her, it wasn’t going to stop me from saying them.
She just huffed out a breath of snowflakes in response, though from the way she seemed to relax, it did seem to make her feel a bit better. Wait, was Keo some sort of tsundere? Thinking it over, she had a lot of the flags. Although she hardly straight up insulted me, she always acted a bit passive aggressive… Maybe that was something to be aware of. I didn’t praise her enough because she seemed almost repulsed by it, but maybe she was just pretending?
I shook my head. That wasn’t something to be thinking about right now.
While I was expecting to have to climb up the mountain, I was pleasantly surprised to find a gondola. Right next to the Pokecenter. In fact, they were kind of attached. “Looks like it’s not running,” I mused.
Walking to the building, I spent time shaking all of the snow off under the easement before making my way inside. Keo was quick to run over to the counter and jump onto it with an annoyed look. “How do we get to the gym,” she demanded of the Joy, who was looking at her with a slightly bemused look.
“Well hello there,” she said with a bit of a giggle.
“Sorry about her, she really wants to fight Wulfric for some reason,” I explained as I walked up. The Pokecenter was empty.
“Oh?” Joy glanced between me and Keo. “Well, unfortunately the gym is closed for Christmas,” she explained. And the little fox on the table looked personally offended.
I nodded slowly. “I see… Should have expected that. When will Wulfric be available?”
She turned a bit to a computer and started to punch a few things in. “The gym will be open in a week. Would you like me to schedule you in?”
“Can you do that?” I asked, leaning a bit against the counter.
“Of course. Wulfric uh… doesn’t have a secretary this time of year, so the duty falls on us Joy’s, since we also run the gondola,” she explained as she started to put in a few things.
“Ah, right. That makes sense.”
“Trainer ID?” she suddenly asked.
I paused for a moment. “Oh. Right. That.” I shook my head as I retrieved the thing from my bag. “Almost forgot about this… Been a while since I had to show anyone.”
She took it, but gave me a sort of puzzled look, and then her eyes widened when she actually looked at the thing. “Oh Arceus! You’re Jason! Goodness, I thought you were some foreign Trainer rushing the circuit.”
I smiled quite a bit, shaking my head. “No, just doing it weird. Also, please make note I’m going for the Elite Badge, if you need to.”
Her eyes actually widened a bit more. “O-oh. Okay. Right. Well, be aware that’s a three versus three battle. And… Wulfric is not kind about it… He’s got a full six team that’s almost good enough to challenge the Elite Four, and he uses them in those battles. A lot of people skip out on getting the Elite Iceberg Badge because of that.”
“Yeah, Valerie says he’s a jerk,” I said with a nod.
She giggled softly, putting a hand over her mouth in a vain attempt to hide it. “That is… uhm… something a lot of people say.”
I let out a soft laugh. “Alright. Well, since we can’t fight him today, I guess we’ll have to put it off.”
Keo looked so miffed. Again, I didn’t really understand what was driving her to want to confront the ice gym. And trying to explain types and resistances just seemed to make her even more determined. Maybe that was why? She refused to accept that I was right about things, so if I tell her she would struggle, she just wants to prove me wrong.
“Okay, well, I have you down in eight days, at two in the afternoon. Between Christmas and the New Year.” She stopped typing, turning more of her attention on me. “That alright?”
I nodded and smiled. “Sounds good to me. Thank you, Joy.”
She nods and returns my smile. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
I shook my head as I turned. “Nah, thanks.”
“Have a good day, Jason,” she said with a slight bow.
Back out into the snow, the cold hit me immediately. I had actually forgotten how cold it was out here. Keo came out with me, glaring up at the gym. I reached into my bag and released Hate. The canine looked around, getting her bearings. “Let’s find the last of those bases, shall we?”
~
It took the entire day to find the four bases in Snowbelle. There wasn’t anything special about them, which was good. That put our total at thirty five, including Lysandre’s Lab. But there was still one place to check, which I was going to do the next day.
The Pokecenter was warm and comfortable. It had a bit more…rustic feel to it. Like it was old, but had a nice feel to it. Flavienne came to talk with me a bit, mostly to warn me about Wulfric. She had apparently seen that I had scheduled an Elite Battle against him. I was actually starting to get a bit worried about it considering how many people had warned me about the guy.
But surely it wouldn’t be that bad, right?
As if I would actually believe that with so many warnings. I was going to have to be ready for a rough time. What really bothered me was that no one really had an explanation as to why it was so bad, aside from the fact he was practically an Elite Four member with a full team and did not pull his punches.
But that was for the future. Right that moment I had a mountain to trudge up. Thankfully the tree cover had made the snow a lot lighter, so I only had to deal with a few inches rather than a couple feet. I was following behind Hate, who was getting more and more determined the further we traveled.
No one else was out. Everyone was very adamant about not wanting to hike up a snow covered mountain in winter. Even Keo didn’t want to go traipsing up the mountain. It wasn’t that much of a mountain, really. More like a slight incline, but it had been a few hours of hiking now.
Suddenly, Hate stopped. “There,” she whispered.
Coming up beside her, I paused at the tree and looked out into the small clearing. There was just a small outcropping of rocks, but even I could see the door. It was pretty obvious. “Right…” I mumbled as I pulled out my phone, taking note of the location and taking a picture of the door. “Okay, let’s go back,” I said with a sigh, not looking forward to the hike.
“Wait,” she said, sniffing at the air as she took a few steps forward. I was tempted to tell her to come back, but decided to let her do her thing. “I don’t smell anyone?”
I blinked. “No one?” I looked around. I don’t know why I looked around. It wasn’t like I had any sort of tracking skills or would be able to tell if anyone was around.
“All the scents are really old,” she mumbled, moving closer to the outcropping.
I reached into my coat, pulling out Cara’s pokeball and releasing her. “Cara, can you sense anyone?”
She was a bit tense when she appeared, but relaxed when there wasn’t an immediate threat. Her eyes glowed with that familiar light as she used Aura Sense. Her head snapped downward and she seemed to look around. “There’s a structure below us but… no people.”
A frown formed on my face as I exited the tree line. I took another look around as I made my way towards the door. Hate was already at the rocks, sniffing around the door. “Something smells… off…” she said as she looked at me.
I stood in front of the door, looking at it for a moment. There wasn’t a handle or keypad, or any obvious way to open it. “Cara, open the door.”
The noise of the door being bashed in was oddly satisfying, though the clatter of it going down the hall was more amusing than impressive.
The lights were off and I pulled out my flashlight, pointing it into the extremely dark hallway. “Weird, there doesn’t seem to be any lights-” the smell hit us all immediately. Cara and Hate recoiled, taking several steps back, though both tried to position themselves between me and the door. I turned away, staggering a few steps before throwing up.
I moved farther away, lifting up my coat to try and block the stench while I made a conscious effort to not breathe through my nose. That wasn’t the smell of an abandoned building. I’d been in several of those. That was the smell of rot.
We all moved back even further, nearly to the tree line. Even though I was far enough away to not smell it, just the memory of that smell made me gag.
I should have turned and ran.
That would have been the smart thing to do.
But I was too curious for my own good.
With a sigh, I pulled a large cloth from my bag, and a berry. I didn’t have any perfume, but if I smeared the berry into the cloth, it would mask the smell at least a little. When I wrapped it around my face, Cara looked at me incredulously.
“You cannot be thinking what I think you’re thinking,” she stated bluntly.
I glanced at her before shrugging. “I’m just going to take a quick look.”
Even Hate was giving me a look. “Are you serious?”
Again I shrugged as I started to walk back towards the open door. Even through my mask, the smell made me gag. But it was bearable. Hate and Cara did not follow. Cara looked almost distraught, clearly fighting with herself on whether to follow or not. I thought about it for a moment, running through ideas in my head. I pulled out three pokeballs, releasing Sliggoo, Banette, and Mikyu. “Okay?” I questioned Cara.
She seemed hesitant, but then nodded. I returned her and Hate so that they didn’t have to worry and could be with me in some kind of emergency. “Whoa, that looks spooky,” Sliggoo said, staring into the darkness.
“Right?” I said with a bit of a chuckle. Mikyu looked concerned, and Banette was standing in the doorway, staring into the darkness. I crouched down beside them, trying to ignore the smell. “Okay, you three keep an eye out for anything wrong, alright?”
All three of them nodded, and I put Mikyu on my right shoulder, with Sliggoo on my left. Although Sliggoo was almost too big to fit, most of her was on my back, but with how well she could grip there was no chance of her falling off.
With that, we made our way in. Banette led the way, clearly unbothered by the atmosphere. She left little footprints in the dust as she walked. This base was clearly abandoned months ago.
The hallway wasn’t that long before we had to start making our way down an annoyingly long spiral staircase, we probably went down three or four stories before coming to another hallway. My eyes were immediately drawn to the side, where I could see a small panel. It caught my attention because it had little glowing lights. Wiping the dust from it, I jumped as the lights suddenly came on.
We were in a short hallway, two doors to the side, and a larger room at the end. It looked… sterile. Almost like a hospital.
Cautiously I moved to one of the doors, while Banette just walked off into the larger room. The one on the left was partially ajar. Slowly I pushed the door open, revealing a sort of… break room? Some sort of generator on one side, and some game tables on the other. There didn’t appear to be anything of interest. The other door led to restrooms.
Following after Banette, there were several steps leading down into the room at the end of the hall. It was absolutely massive. Banette had cleared some of the dust, revealing the telltale signs of a marked battle arena.
There were two doors leading off from this battle room, again the door on the left was partially open. I decided to look at the closed door first, and opened it to reveal a sort of office. Papers were everywhere. There was a bookshelf, but it looked like someone had taken most things off of it. There was a broken computer on the desk, clearly having been smashed by something. Probably a Pokemon.
I could see a few things on the floor in front of the shelf. Some of which looked interesting. A sort of statue that was broken, and glass that looked to have been some sort of case at one point. Banette was wandering the room, picking up the papers before discarding them. “Can you read?” I asked.
She looked back at me, blinking at me several times before her head tilted. That wasn’t a yes or a no. Someday I would figure out why this Banette was so strange.
As I thought about that, she went behind the desk, and I could hear drawers opening. While I could search the room myself, it was amusing to watch her do it. It was honestly like…she knew what she was doing.
And I was actually shocked when she came back around holding an armfull of stones. I just sort of gaped at her, though my makeshift mask was hiding my expression, I was completely stunned. Immediately I knew that there were three dusk stones, a moonstone, and the other was a sun stone. “What the hell were they doing here that those were just… in some drawer?”
After thinking about it for a moment, I realized that they must have been for rewarding promising members. Although the dusk stones made sense, I couldn’t imagine what Pokemon Team Flare used that the other stones could actually help. Maybe that’s why they were left? Too many of one, no use for the others?
Banette offered them to me, a big grin on her face. I smiled under my mask and took them, tucking them into my bag. “Good job, Banette. Very good job.” I rubbed the top of her head, and she pressed into my hand. I had no idea what I would do with them, but better to have than to not. “Didn’t happen to see an ice stone back there, did ya?” I asked with a bit of a laugh.
She just tilted her head at me before wandering back out into the larger room.
I made a mental note she was not approaching the other door. The other door that I now had to check. Slowly I made my way across the room towards the open door, and the smell grew stronger. Or maybe that was my imagination?
It probably was not. I had barely started to open the door before I caught sight of something that caused my entire body to lock up. My heart started racing like I’d just run a marathon. That was a hand. There was no mistaking it. Definitely a hand. A rotting hand.
I wasn’t sure how long I stood there, debating what to do. Clearly that was where the smell had come from. Now I knew what a rotting corpse smelled like. Wonderful. Good. Great. That was lovely for me.
And what made it even worse… I wanted to look.
Some sort of morbid curiosity was pulling really hard at the rational part of my brain. But no, it wasn’t just that. I needed to know. I needed to know if those bodies - yes multiple, there was no way just one was making it smell this bad - belonged to people who deserved it. As horrible as that sounded.
“Sliggoo… Don’t look,” I muttered as I closed my eyes. I tried to take a deep breath the best that I could, and pulled the door open. Sliggoo made a noise, and I realized she had not followed my advice. My eyes opened to the sight of what could only be described as a scene from some sort of over the top slasher movie that spent all of its budget on props and red paint.
Immediately I slammed the door closed, looking out at the room and trying not to blink. If you blink just after looking at something there is a higher chance of burning that image into your mind. It kinda helped, but I was never going to forget the sight of that room. It was good my stomach was empty, otherwise I would have been throwing up again. Didn’t stop me from gagging and trying to not dry heave.
It had been a sort of barracks. The only positive thing that I got out of the image that was rapidly searing itself into my mind, is that they were all very obviously Team Flare. “Mikyu,” I said hoarsely, struggling to speak. “Can… Can you check to see if they have pokeballs?” I managed. “If that’s okay. You don’t have to.”
She just nodded and hopped down, moving to the door. I quickly moved away so that I didn’t accidentally see more. My hands were shaking. Trying to combat that, I reached up and I gently rested it against Sliggoo, who grasped it in her little hands. It was comforting for the both of us.
I was so out of it that I didn’t even notice when Mikyu returned. She had dozens of pokeballs. I slowly slid down the wall I had apparently leaned against. When had I done that? Reaching out, I took one of the pokeballs. It was locked and in stasis mode. And they were alive.
Without even thinking I started shoving the pokeballs into my bag. Mikyu helped pile them in, and I had barely closed my bag before I started running, scooping her up as I did. I snatched up Banette as well, running at full tilt.
I stumbled quite a lot on the stairs, trying to go as fast as I could. Thankfully, Mikyu and Banette used their Shadow Claws to help keep me from falling over. I practically flew out of the entrance, sprinting towards the tree line. The cold stung my face when I exited, but I barely registered that it was snowing and just kept sprinting.
I was completely out of breath and staggering when I realized that I had Scoly. I quickly brought her out, and she immediately started to complain about the cold. “No time,” I said breathlessly. “We need… We need to get to the Pokecenter. Now.”
That stopped her, and she used her rear antennae to practically toss me onto her back before she took off. I had no idea she could do that, but I wasn’t going to question it. Banette and Mikyu were using Shadow Claws to hold me to her as I hadn’t properly seated myself. The two of them worked together to get me sitting in a better position.
I pulled out my phone, struggling a bit because my hands were still shaking. Was that from cold, nerves, or adrenaline? Irrelevant. I tore off the cloth over my face as I called Evelyne. Fuck why hadn’t I gotten the numbers of other Joy’s?
“Jace? What-”
“No time!” I shouted, which I had to do due to the wind. “Emergency! I have an unknown number of Pokemon in stasis, I have no idea how long they’ve been in it, but it’s been months. I-” My words caught. “I don’t know how many of them are alive.” I could feel tears pricking the corners of my eyes, which stung something fierce in the cold.
“Where are you?” While I had been talking, the background on her end had blurred, and the phone was a bit wobbly as she was running somewhere.
“Outside Snowbelle. We’re heading to the Pokecenter right now.” Talking was actually calming me down.
“What happened?” she had an extremely serious tone in her voice.
Had I explained what I was doing to her? I had, right? I couldn’t remember. “Team Flare base. It was abandoned. But not… Not evacuated.” My breathing was starting to hitch as I talked and fragments of what I’d seen struck my mind. “Fuck I’ve never seen that much blood…”
She froze. “Are you okay?”
“I… I… dammit…” I closed my eyes, forcing myself to take deep breaths. “Everyone was dead... Months ago… I think? I didn’t… I didn’t look too much.”
“Okay. But are you okay?” She was watching me, but I couldn’t help but notice her blocking the microphone and start yelling at someone else. I didn’t catch all of what she said, but I did hear emergency, Snowbelle, all hands, prepare for incoming.
“I’m…having a bit of a panic attack. There are… There are dozens of pokeballs. And I… I don’t know-”
“It’s okay,” she interrupted. “Just get them to the Pokecenter.”
I nodded, making another attempt at steadying my breathing. It was really helping that Banette and Mikyu were squeezing me with their Shadow Claws. It was grounding.
Time had no meaning for me and I had no idea how long it took, but eventually we burst from the trees and into the deeper snow of cleared land that marked the city. Thankfully the roads were more clear, and Scoly barreled towards the Pokecenter in the distance.
I think she ran over a car at one point.
She hit the breaks hard, nearly crashing through the front doors of the Pokecenter, and I leapt off. Not my best move, since I slipped on the snow and slammed into the door, flinging it open in the process. I would have probably toppled over, but a bunch of Shadow Claws were good enough to keep me on my feet.
Ahead of me was a group of Joy’s. Seven? Eight? My vision swam at even trying to count them. One came running up with a basket. Flavienne. “Jason!” she called on her way.
I met her half way, staggering but having the support of two ghost Pokemon to keep me up. The moment she was close enough I started to pull pokeballs from my bag and put them in the basket. Mikyu and Banette helped to speed up the process. “Shit,” one of the other Joy’s commented on the amount. It wasn’t quite dozens, but it was more than twenty.
“This all of them?” someone asked, and I nodded.
“Alright!” Flavienne shouted, turning with the basket. “Remember the new protocol! Assurance of safety is the main priority!”
There were three Wigglytuff that came over to the basket and Joy’s started to fill trays. The moment a tray was full, it was rushed back. In less than a minute, all the Joy’s were gone.
I slumped, my legs giving out. Scoly hooked her horns under my arms, helping the two ghosts to keep me upright. They all started to lead me over towards the sitting area, and I chuckled. “You’re all so smart,” I said softly before sinking into one of the couches.
Scoly came around, shoving a few chairs and another couch out of her way so that she could lay down and put her head in my lap. I put Banette down beside me as I leaned more into the couch.
For a few minutes I just breathed, trying to calm myself again. Eventually, my brain started working properly again and I pulled out my phone and called Adria. While I waited, I started petting between Scoly’s horns. Leaning my head to the side, I rested it against Sliggoo. She had been really quiet, which was understandable. But she pressed back against me, so she probably wasn’t in shock, just processing.
“Jace?” Adria asked tentatively, and I realized she had picked up a few seconds ago.
“I finished with my scouting,” I said slowly, closing my eyes.
“Okay. That’s good,” she paused, “Are you okay?”
I took a moment before I replied, “No. There was… There is a base outside of Snowbelle. Abandoned. There are…” I tried in vain to block out the image. “It was like some sort of training facility? There just… There is… I… There are so many bodies…” I muttered.
“Where are you?” she suddenly snapped, and my eyes opened, the tone of her voice catching me off guard.
“Snowbelle Pokecenter,” I said quickly, and she visibly relaxed.
“Okay…” She seemed to think about something. “Chief Jenny wants to talk to you. As soon as possible. About…what you’ve been doing.”
I nodded slowly. It was just barely after lunch. “I can do that today.”
“You sure you’re up for that?” she asked hesitantly.
“I’m…” I took a deep breath. “I’m fine. Yeah. I just need some time to finish up this stuff in Snowbelle.”
She seemed to think things over, clearly hesitant. “Okay… Come to the station in Lumiose as soon as you're done, and text me when you’re on your way.”
“Alright… I can do that,” I said, closing my eyes for a moment.
There were a few seconds of silence. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I think so,” I replied with a sigh. “Just…trying to process.”
“Right… Okay, I’m going to go tell Chief Jenny you’re coming later today. As for right now, I’m sending a few Jenny’s to you, so that you can tell them where the base is.” She did that thing where she blocked the microphone, talking to someone else.
I hesitated. “You sure that’s a good idea?”
The question seemed to catch her off guard, but I could hear the smile in her voice. “Yes. Don’t worry, these ones are trustworthy.”
“Alright,” I said, opening my eyes a bit in time to see her hang up.
A soft huff escaped me. Well I couldn’t really blame her, I’d kinda dropped a big problem in her lap. Either way, I put my phone away and relaxed more into the couch. I actually dozed off for a bit. I was mentally drained, and Sliggoo was surprisingly comfortable. And there was just…something about Pokecenters that made me feel relaxed. It was nothing like a hospital, or a clinic. It was…
“Jason?”
My eyes cracked open, and I looked over to the side, where there was an Officer Jenny. I sat up, finding that I had slumped over against Banette. The little doll was sleeping against me, or at least seemed to be. “Yes. Sorry.” I wiped a bit of drool from the corner of my mouth. “Long day.”
She nodded a bit, and I looked around for a moment. There were two more Jenny’s, and four others that also looked like they were police. “No worries,” she said with a smile. “From what Adria told us, it’s… quite a thing.”
I nodded, and shifted a bit before I realized I was trapped. I looked down at Scoly, who cracked open an eye and looked up at me, before closing it and pretending to be asleep. A snort escaped from me. “Right… Well…” I thought for a moment before reaching into my bag and pulling out Hate’s pokeball.
When I released her, she immediately tensed up when she saw all the police, but relaxed slightly when she could see me. “Yes?”
“Do you mind leading them the way to the bunker?” I asked. She seemed hesitant at first, but nodded. “Good.” I turned my attention back to the Jenny in front of me. “This is Hate, she knows the way. It’s a few hours of hiking…”
“We have mounts,” one of the non-Jenny officers chimed in, all of them curiously looking at Hate.
Hate did not particularly look comfortable under their gazes. “Then we’ll head off now,” Jenny said, but hesitated as her hand started to reach towards me. “Do…do you want us to take her pokeball? If you have business elsewhere, we can transport her ball there once we return.”
I looked from the Jenny down to Hate, who was frantically shaking her head. I laughed softly. “Nah, she can run back after leading you there. Then we’ll head to Lumiose as soon as she gets back.”
They all seemed to nod and started making their way out. “Alright.”
I reached over and rubbed Hate’s head. “I’ll be here when you get back,” I said softly.
She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment and enjoying the contact. Then I watched as she was suddenly all business and trotted quickly after the officers.
My gaze fell downward to the pokeball in my hand. It was a battered thing. A few scuffs here and there, scratches, some little dents. The word Hate was still written on it, though the e had smudged a bit. I just didn’t understand how someone could be so delusional that they could actually want what Lysandre did. They had put this ball and its resident through so much…
I was a bit startled as something warm and slimy pressed against the side of my face. Looking over I found Sliggoo, asleep and shifting to try and get into a more comfortable position. Banette and Mikyu were tucked against my side, the little disguised Pokemon had wrapped me and the little stuffed doll in her Shadow Claws. They were asleep as far as I could tell, and so was Scoly. Actually asleep I figured, since the large bug was drooling slightly on my leg.
As I watched them, I was honestly thankful for where I was now. Things had been hard, and getting harder and harder, but most of it was also fun. But there was still just so much danger. This was what I was worried about. Getting involved put a big target on me. Now all I could really hope was that I got an explanation for what happened. And hope that it wasn’t as bad as my imagination was supplying.
Time passed slowly, but eventually a Nurse Joy walked out. It took me a moment to recognize that it was Flavienne. She had a rather tired looking expression on her face, but it slowly melted into a smile as she looked over at me. “Well, don’t you look comfy,” she said with a soft giggle.
“I am,” I said with a bit of a nod, which got a few more giggles from her. “So?”
She hesitated, and then sighed before taking a seat nearby. “Good news, they’re all alive.”
“But…”
“But… I don’t know if they all will survive,” she said softly, and I could see her eyes water a bit. “All of them are starving, malnourished, and battered to some degree.”
There was the briefest thought that if I had just come here earlier, things would have been different. But I forced that ‘what if’ nonsense out of my head. That wouldn’t help. It never did. “What are their chances?”
“Most of them will be fine,” she assured. “There’s just… three that… It looks grim. They’re undergoing surgery now. Two of them have a good chance, but it’s going to be hard for the third.”
A sigh escaped me as I closed my eyes. I took a moment to center myself. “Okay…” I mumbled.
“We’ll be holding them all for observation,” she continued. “That’s part of our new procedure, that you helped get implemented. Then they’ll be sent to Gym Leader Valerie.”
I nodded a bit, still keeping my eyes closed. I was trying to think. “Good. Good…”
There was a moment of silence. “Are you okay?” she asked softly.
I opened my eyes a bit, looking down at Scoly. “Yeah. I was just… overwhelmed. I’m much better now.” I took a slow, deep breath. “And I’ll feel even better when Team Flare gets knocked down a few more pegs.”
She snorted, though she tried to turn it into a cough. “We sent a Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff with those officers to help, just in case. We should know a lot more in a few hours.”
With that, she left. She still had a lot of things to do now that she suddenly had twenty three villain team Pokemon dropped in her lap. She was clearly one of the higher ranks at this Pokecenter. Though I didn’t exactly know how the Joy hierarchy worked, there clearly was one.
It was about another two hours before Hate came in, panting and covered in frost. She moved over and flopped down. When I had asked if she was alright, her reply was, “Never…ran…that…much…”
She happily went back into her ball, and then I returned everyone else. I gave my farewell to the Joy who had taken over the counter, telling her that I was heading out now. She wished me safe travels and I departed.
As soon as I was on the train, I texted Adria that I was on my way before shoving my winter coat into my bag. While it was warm, it was too warm for inside the train, and my regular coat was good enough for the weather outside of Snowbelle.
Adria responded before I even finished pulling the coat off. She explained that she was setting up the meeting and would meet me at the train station. That was a bit concerning, but maybe there was a reason for the escort. Probably to make sure I didn’t wander, or get lost.
It took a while, but eventually I was stepping off the train into the chill air of Lumiose. It was nothing compared to the cold of Snowbelle, but still had some bite to it.
“There are you,” Adria said as she stepped out of the crowd. There was another Jenny nearby, though she seemed to be stationed there. “Okay, so are you sure you’re alright to do this? You just had-” she stopped, staring at me.
I blinked at her. “What? I’m fine.”
She reached towards me and wiped at the side of my head, her hand coming away covered in slime. “What is this?”
“Sliggoo slime,” I said as I reached up and wiped some of it away. I hadn’t even realized it. And unfortunately it was in my hair. I pulled out a towel to try and get more of it off. “Took a nap, and the little dragon slug makes a surprisingly comfortable pillow.”
It looked like she wanted to say something, but instead she just sighed before chuckling as she wiped the slime off on the towel. “Okay. That is very much like you.”
I scoffed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She waved a hand vaguely in the air as if swatting the question out of the air. “Come on, the Chief is waiting.”
The two of us made our way outside to a waiting police car. There were a few people loitering around, discussing the vehicle like they’d never seen one before. “Oh my, how fancy. Didn’t expect a chauffeur,” I commented.
“Shut it before I put you in the back,” she quipped back, a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.
I laughed as I got into the passenger seat after she unlocked it from the inside. Immediately I could tell this was a very different vehicle than any other I’d been in. It was far more hightech. The interior wasn’t fancy, but it had quite a few different panels and keypads.
The drive was short, mostly because Adria drove like a maniac, and I had to cling to anything and everything I could as we flew down streets and around corners. Eventually we stopped, and I staggered a bit as I got out. “You and Kukui must have gotten your license at the same place.”
She laughed, and gave me a bit of a nudge as she passed. “Oh what, the big Expert can’t handle a bit of aggressive driving?”
I sighed, slapping my leg a bit to try and loosen it up. “I don’t know why you needed to drive like that.”
“I always drive like that,” she said matter-of-factly. That just made me frown, but she continued, “But you’ll understand the need to hurry in the meeting.” That got my attention, and I quickly followed after her.
Lumiose Police Station was nothing like the one in Santalune. It was bustling and loud, and reminded me of some sort of station from a cop drama. There were even people being carted through doors in handcuffs, and people reporting crimes at tables.
I quickly followed after Adria, trying not to get confused by all the other Jenny’s that were in the room. All the noise practically died immediately when we went through a door. It looked more like an office, where a bunch of officers were quietly discussing things and working at computers.
Everything stopped as I entered, practically everyone looking over at me. “What’s going on, Adria?” someone asked, and then added, “Who’s this?”
“This is Pokemon Expert Jason. We have a meeting with the Chief,” she said dismissively, which seemed to shut down any other questions as we made our way across the room. I could see where we were heading, because there was a big door with the word ‘Chief’ printed on it, and a huge window beside it. Through the window I could see a Jenny working at a computer. She really stood out as her hair was longer than the other Jenny’s that I’d seen, and done up in a rather elaborate bun twin ponytail thing.
Adria knocked on the door, and the other woman looked up. Our eyes locked for a moment and she seemed to tense. “Come in,” she said after a moment. Adria didn’t hesitate as she opened the door and assured me in.
“Chief,” she greeted as she closed the door.
“Close the blinds,” she replied as she leaned back from her computer and pinched the bridge of her nose.
I beat Adria to it, since I was closer. “I see your daughter got to you again,” Adria said, a bit amused.
The Chief touched her hair and then sighed. “She wants to be a hair stylist,” she explained, clearly more for me rather than Adria. “Please, have a seat.” She gestured at the two chairs on the other side of the desk.
“She looks pretty skilled at it,” I commented as I sat down, taking a better look at her hair. It was interesting, that was for sure. Not a bad style, very anime, but not very fitting of the rather serious woman across from me.
“That’s one way of putting it,” she grumbled, looking at Adria. “Have you told him anything yet?”
She shook her head and my brow furrowed. “No. I thought it best to leave it to you.”
The Chief sighed. “Alright… Okay, first, pleasure to meet you, Jason,” she said as she extended a hand out towards me over the table. “I’m Chief Cassandra Jenny.”
“Jason,” I said with a bit of a smile as I shook her hand. “But I prefer Jace.”
She nodded and sat back. “Right. So… Let’s just rip the bandaid off. Adria has explained to me what you’ve been up to, and while I appreciate the effort, I had no plans to do anything.” She folded her hands in front of her on the table.
“But something changed?” I asked, noting how she worded that statement.
Again she nodded. “The bunker you found…” She sighed as she picked up a piece of paper. “Heavily fortified bunker outside of Snowbelle. Twenty individuals, dead. Cause of death: Blood Rot.”
My brow furrowed, and I took note of the way Adria tensed. “Blood Rot? What’s that?”
Cassandra sighed. “I wondered if you knew what it was, but I’m not surprised you don’t. Short history lesson… About a hundred and twenty years ago, during a war against Galar, one of their scientists created a disease using various poisons from Pokemon as well as a few medicinal plants. They called it Blood Rot due to what it does to those infected.”
I frowned. “I see…”
“We thought that all knowledge of it was gone, but from the evidence collected in that bunker, it seems Team Flare has successfully recreated it,” she continued. “That bunker was a seed bed. You see, Blood Rot in its raw form is very difficult to actually catch. So those people from Galar would kidnap a group of individuals, carefully infect them until the disease took hold, and then drop them into a populated area.”
There was almost a spark in my mind. “Orsay.” That was why the city didn’t exist. It had been wiped out by disease.
She blinked. “Yes… That was the first and only use of Blood Rot that we are aware of…” She gave me a rather odd look, but brushed it off. “There is a small period of infection. Once the subject begins bleeding from their eyes and nose, they are incredibly infectious for seventy two hours, and their corpse is still dangerous an additional week after they die.”
“So the bunker was a… what did you call it, seed bed?” I asked, and she nodded. “Do we know the target?”
Cassandra looked down and shook her head. “No. As far as we can tell, something went wrong and the disease's infection time triggered early. I don’t know the details, since I’m not a Joy. But from what we gathered, this was their first attempt. And we don’t know if there’s another.”
I knew Lysandre was a psychopath, but to use something like this was a lot more than I'd expected. Was this one of his contingency plans? Or was this one of his scientists? “So now you’re taking Team Flare seriously.”
She had a rather grim expression, and nodded. “Team Flare has been nothing but a minor nuisance. Only a few of them have ever stepped out of line, and the leaders have always been quick to disparage anyone who gets caught breaking the law. As much as I hate to admit it, we needed a good reason.”
“You let rot seep into the cracks of the region,” I said and her eyes snapped to me. I sighed, shaking my head. “I guess it’s not really fair to say that it’s your fault, considering Lysandre is smart and careful. But at least now you’re understanding the threat. Better late than never.”
Her fists clenched as she glared at me. “You make it sound-”
“They attacked a Pokecenter,” I interrupted, raising my voice a bit. “Blatently. Middle of the day. All over a variant? You can’t chalk that up to a few bad eggs in the bunch. That sort of suicidal confidence doesn’t come out of nowhere.” I reached into my pocket to get my phone, and noticed how both of them tensed at the movement. Did they actually think I would attack them or something? “Here. I have thirty six locations noted down. You need to hit them fast, and soon, or else that bunker is going to be the least of your problems.”
“I know,” the Chief said, gritting her teeth. “We’re putting together an attack force.” She started to go over the plan, and by the end, I was honestly impressed. They were pulling in Jenny’s from four other regions. The plan was to strike in ten days, on New Year's Eve. They were arranging about a hundred different false missions to cover what was going on, and they were all planned for the week after the New Year and the following weeks. It was going to be frustrating to all of the Jenny’s who were involved, but the Clan Elder had already approved. All it took was the mention of Blood Rot and she decided that Team Flare needed to be snuffed out.
I made a few suggestions to the plan, most of which were rejected, but some she liked enough to add in. The most annoying part to me was that I was to keep out of it. The only ones that were to know of my involvement at all were Cassandra, Adria, and the Clan Elder. It was partially to protect me, but it was more to keep the Association out of it. Technically I was part of the Association, so if I got involved, that meant they would, too. And Lysandre was also a member of the Association. My involvement meant he would have prior knowledge to some of the things that would happen.
Politics were so annoying.
It was several hours of discussion. The official reason for our meeting was about my personal case. Things needed to be discussed and paperwork filed, as it was ‘officially’ revealed that I was from Unova. Thankfully, Professor Juniper knew the truth about me and she agreed to corroborate any questions. How I got to Kalos was still a mystery, and the reason I wasn’t going back was just listed as ‘Personal.’
Cassandra honestly didn’t care about my reasons or my past. Her entire focus was on Team Flare. My words had been a bit harsh, since she had been looking for a reason and just never gotten any support for doing anything.
Exiting the station, all the mental energy that I had managed to recover was completely gone. But it was done. I was done. I didn’t have to do anything. Christmas was in a few days. The battle with Wulfric a few days after, and then that was it. Those were the only things I had to focus on. And Malva.
I had almost forgotten about Malva. “What’s wrong?” Adria asked, having stopped beside me.
“Ah, just… Thinking of what problems I still have,” I said with a sigh.
She looked at me for a moment. “I think you need a break.”
I chuckled softly. “Agreed.” I reached into my pocket, expecting my phone to start ringing, but it was silent. “I think… I’ll take it easy till Christmas.”
She pat me on the back lightly. “And take a shower. You’ve still got slime on you.”
Again I chuckled, though this one honestly made me feel pretty good. “Yeah. Well, see you after all this is over.” I waved over my shoulder as I walked towards the train station. It was time to relax and train up for the battle against Wulfric. And maybe ask around about how to get an Ice Stone, since I had a bunch of stones to trade now.
Chapter 28
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
Liar - Liepard - Big hungry cat
Bungle - Houndour - Just a little pup
Disaster - Houndoom - Bit of a space case
Immodest - Mightyena - Super serious
Alma - Egg (Fennekin) - Not up to too much yet.
Chapter Text
‘Do you know any way I can get an Ice Stone?’ I messaged Valerie after I took a seat on the train back to Laverre. As much fun as it would be to hunt one down, I really didn’t know how to even look for one. How does one even find stones? Maybe I’m over complicating it… They could just be rocks scattered across mountains. But the fact I hadn’t seen any in the Pokemarts was a bit concerning.
‘Oh? You need an ice stone? What for?’ came the reply. Before I had a chance to explain, there was a following text, ‘Sorry, Diantha took my phone. Stones are pretty hard to get.’
Diantha was there? That was a bit concerning. I wondered why… ‘I have five if I can maybe trade for one?’
It was quite a long time before I got a reply, and it was simply, ‘five???!?!!?’
I snorted at the excessive use of punctuation. ‘Yes. Five. But I don’t need any of them, I need an ice stone.’
Amusingly, I didn’t get a response.
Walking into the gym I was immediately aware that something was off. There was a sort of… odd sense that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. From across the room I caught Allie’s eye. She had an almost pained expression on her face. Or maybe it was apprehensive? Pitying? It was honestly hard to tell from across the room, but it was clear she was trying to convey some sort of emotion.
I honestly found it humorous, as it was probably about Diantha being here. The Champion seemed to be a rather well known menace from some of the things I’d heard and experienced. Mostly experienced. She still hadn’t given me the name for what she wanted the reserve to be called…
The first place I headed was to the room with the wolf pack. I had left the incubator in their care, and wanted to retrieve it as soon as possible. I knew it was a bit irrational, but I wanted to be sure it was safe.
Opening the door, I immediately spotted Diantha and Valerie glaring at each other in the middle of the room. Or maybe they weren’t glaring? Maybe they were having some sort of serious mental conversation that I wasn’t able to listen in on.
Either way, I ignored them for a moment, and instead made my way to the sitting area where I had left the incubator. As I did, I pulled Hate’s pokeball from my bag and released her. She shook vigorously, clearly relieved to be somewhere familiar and warm. Unfortunately I had bad news for her. “They don’t want us involved anymore,” I said as I knelt down in front of her.
Her brow seemed to furrow a bit as she tried to understand what I meant, and then suddenly her expression shifted into one of anger. “But… But we did all the work!” she snarled.
“I know,” I said softly. “And I tried to argue, but they weren’t having any of it.”
“They don’t trust us,” she growled. It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
And it really sucked that I agreed with her. “You would think that they would by now… Felt like I was arguing in circles…” I sighed, rubbing my face. “But they’re at least taking it seriously and going full force.”
“But we won’t be able to get revenge,” she growled, starting to pace back and forth.
I sighed again and stood up. “Unfortunately we have to leave revenge up to others.”
That was clearly not what she wanted to hear, and she stalked off into the room, presumably in an attempt to calm herself down or go and rant at Malevolence. Our conversation didn’t go unnoticed, as suddenly Diantha and Valerie were rushing over.
“Jace. Jace, my good, good friend,” Diantha hooked her arm with mine, a big smile on her face. “How was your trip to Snowbelle?”
“Awful?” I said slowly, quickly trying to assess what was going on.
“That’s unfortunate,” Diantha said as Valerie came up as well, standing quite close.
“It’s usually beautiful this time of year. What happened?” Valerie asked.
“A lot,” I said vaguely, attempting to free my arm from Diantha, but she refused to release me. “The city itself is beautiful, but some stuff happened. And the gym is closed.”
“Oh… Yeah, gyms are usually closed this time of year,” Valerie said sheepishly, realizing that she could have mentioned that.
“Wulfric would have been a prick about it anyways,” Diantha said, nodding to herself. “So. It’s getting close to Christmas… Have you thought about gifts?”
Thankfully my brain chose that moment to supply me with what was going on. A bit of a smirk pulled at the corner of my mouth. “Are evolution stones so valuable that they’re making you act so weird?”
Diantha immediately started to pout at me. “We’re not allowed to have them.”
“We’re not allowed to buy them for personal use without jumping through a ton of hoops,” Valerie clarified, starting to glare at Diantha again.
The woman waved a hand vaguely in the air. “Same thing.” She turned her attention back to me. “So. So. What kind of stones do you have?”
“So they are rare?” I asked, turning my attention to Valerie and ignoring Diantha.
She shrugged. “Sort of. Gym leaders, Elite Four Members, and even Champions have to justify to the League and Association why they need one. Something about an unfair advantage, because Pokemon that require stones or items to evolve tend to be a lot stronger than those that evolve naturally.”
“That’s dumb,” I said, frowning.
“Right?!” Diantha shouted, finally letting me go in order to throw her hands up in the air. “I want a Gallade to compliment my Gardevoir, and I have a perfectly good Ralts that I have been raising who would be perfect. But the Association keeps refusing.”
Valerie shifted a bit. “I have a Floette that I have been waiting to evolve into a Florges but I can’t get a stone.”
“Unfortunately I don’t have a shiny stone, or a dawn stone,” I explained slowly, looking at the two.
“That’s fine,” Diantha said. “Trading stones is allowed.”
“Why are there so many arbitrary rules?” I asked.
Diantha shrugged. “Mostly it’s just the Association being jerks,” Diantha said. “They want more control over the League, so anything that requires joint permission, they usually deny it.”
Valerie rolled her eyes. “While that’s not wrong, it’s a rule in case something happens to the Pokemon. That way they’re not left with a useless stone and can just trade it. It’s actually happened enough in the past that an exception needed to be made.”
I nodded slowly. “I guess that makes sense.”
“So?” Diantha nudged me with her elbow.
A bit of a laugh escaped me. “I’ve got three dusk stones, a moon stone, and a sun stone.” Both of them had a rather thoughtful expression. I guess they would actually make good gifts. I didn’t really have a use for any of them at the moment, but it sounds like the Association really made it hard for them to just get the stones. Which was weird and dumb. “I suppose if you really wanted one, it could be an early Christmas present,” I mused.
“You don’t have to-” Valerie started.
“Really?” Diantha shouted, cutting her off. “Which one do I get?” I almost expected her to be bouncing up and down from her tone, but she just had a big smile on her face.
“Well…” I reached into my bag. “Valerie will get the moon stone,” I said as I pulled said stone out.
Valerie blinked. “Why?”
“In case you don’t want to trade it, or can’t find someone to trade to. Clefable and Wigglytuff are both fairy types that require a moon stone,” I explained, holding it out to her.
She seemed hesitant to take it, but eventually her hand snaked out of her costume and took the stone. “Thank you.”
“Oh, me next,” Diantha said as she stepped forward, invading my personal space.
“Uh… Well, honestly I’m not sure. Which do you want?” I asked. Diantha was still such a wild card. I couldn’t even begin to guess what was going on in her head. Especially since she was so different from in the games and anime.
Her brow furrowed a bit and she put a finger to her lips as she thought. “Well, since I’ll be trading it, it doesn’t really matter…”
“Then a dusk stone,” I said with a snort, getting one of them out. “Probably easy to trade… and I have several of them.” I tossed it to her.
She easily snatched it out of the air, a big smile on her face. “Wonderful. Merry Christmas.”
I matched her smile. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” Valerie added.
“Guess this means I don’t have to get you any other gifts,” I mused aloud, nodding to myself.
Diantha immediately put on her pouting face. “So mean.”
“Oh, right. I wanted to ask.” I shifted the conversation abruptly. “What were you two talking about before I texted? With how busy you are,” I gestured at Diantha, “I expect the reason to be interesting.”
Suddenly she was smiling again. “Construction started.”
I blinked at her. “Construction?”
“For the main facility,” Valerie added, a rather pleased look on her face. “The Joy’s finalized the design the other day, and construction started this morning.”
I just continued to blink at them. “Already? But Ezekiel isn’t even back. Or is he?”
“He’s not,” Valerie said with a shake of her head.
“That’s just a formality,” Diantha explained, waving her hand dismissively. “We don’t need a survey. The Rangers just want one.”
Slowly I began nodding. “I see…”
“So far the only snag has been your requirements for the greenhouse,” Valerie commented, as she took out her phone to look at something. “Shouldn’t be too hard, though. It’s just difficult right now because it’s winter. Once the snow clears up, should be fine.”
“Good. I-”
Diantha cut me off. “I actually had a question about that.” She put up a hand, like raising it in a classroom. “It makes sense to have a greenhouse, but you wanted it a good distance from the main facility and oddly large. And your specifications are a bit odd.”
“Dual purpose,” I said simply.
Both of them looked at me expectantly, clearly waiting for me to explain.
A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “Part of it is for what you think, grass Pokemon and the like, but also for these.” I pulled out a pokebean. The attention of every single Pokemon in the room snapped to me the moment it was out.
“Those things you feed to the wolf pack sometimes?” Valerie asked, while Diantha just looked a bit puzzled.
“They’re pokebeans. They are delicious, nutritious, and filling. They also have a soothing effect.” While I spoke, I started giving out beans to the wolf pack, who had started forming a line. “If we can get a lot of them growing- Gabby I just gave you one, shoo- growing here, we practically solve any food problems.”
“Are they really that good?” Diantha asked, closely watching as I handed them out. From the glances the Pokemon gave her, it was clear she made some of them nervous, but the prospect of beans overrode any sort of hesitance they had at approaching.
I pulled out a pokebean and offered it to her. “I think they’re tasty.”
She didn’t even hesitate before taking it, studying it for a moment. I offered Valerie one as well, and she happily took it. Both of them looked at the Pokemon and then each other as if silently deliberating if they should. Diantha shrugged, and the two of them took a bite.
“Whoa…” Valerie muttered, looking down at the bean. “That is…really good.”
Diantha was suddenly all up in my personal space again. “Where did you get these?”
I leaned a bit back, but that just caused her to lean forward more. “Alola. They’re sort of a staple food there, for people and Pokemon.”
The woman stepped back and sagged. “Oh… That means getting more will be difficult…”
“That’s why I want to grow them,” I offered.
Suddenly she perked up, and had a sort of scheming look come over her for a moment. “Right! Well, this has been so much fun,” Diantha said with a beaming smile. “But unfortunately, I’ve business I must get back to before the holidays.” She turned with a rather over dramatic flourish before walking away.
I turned my full attention to her as she walked towards the door. “Ah, before you go, Diantha. I have a favor to ask.”
She paused, looking back at me with an almost predatory smile on her face. “Oh?”
“When Jenny calls you, asking for help.” I looked at her, trying to impart the seriousness of the situation with my expression. “Please agree.”
Her smile faltered a bit before she shook herself. “Goodness. What a buzz kill.”
“It’s a sensitive matter, and I can’t give you details.” I really had no way of making her do anything. All I could do was ask, and that was all I promised Adria and Cassandra. “But… if you agree, and hear why she needs your help, I can promise you’ll be glad you did.”
Her expression tightened a bit as she looked at me. Scrutinizing me for a moment like she was trying to see what I was thinking. “I’ll think about it,” she said eventually. She waved as she went through the door. “Farewell, Jace and Val.”
It was silent for almost a full minute as everyone watched the door. “This is about…” Valerie started, but stopped.
I nodded. “Yeah. It’s… Things are a lot worse than we thought, and I can’t go into details until it’s over.”
“But it will be over, right?” she asked, her tone was almost pleading. I really wondered what Team Flare had done to her that she was so vehemently against them.
Again I nodded, giving her a bit of a smile. “Yeah. It will.”
Valerie went over the details a bit more about the construction. While it had started, they were of course going to take Christmas off, and then continue work until New Years. I was honestly shocked to hear that the facility would be finished in about a month or two. But that was the benefit of having dedicated construction Pokemon. The amount of work that could get done was absurd, but it also meant it was expensive.
Diantha had refused to say how much it cost, but Valerie and I agreed it had to be a considerable amount. Still, it was amazing at how much she was putting into this. I was trying really hard to not think about her having an ulterior motive, but I couldn’t help it. What did Diantha get out of this? Why do all this? Was this one of those cases of tax deductible charity?
…Did they have taxes? Was I supposed to be paying taxes?
Let’s not think about that.
Back in the training room that I had sort of taken over, I let everyone out. It had been… a long day. Again I was being checked over and scolded by Cara. Though I did note that her words were a lot less harsh than last time. She was definitely trying to be more comforting, which was nice.
I didn’t let anyone train tonight, as instead we celebrated completing our reconnaissance of Kalos. Although I was still really annoyed that I wasn't allowed to participate further, I understood Jenny’s reasoning. Although I didn’t really believe her Association excuse, since I was pretty much not being monitored by them. Sure, that could change. But I had a feeling there was another reason I was unaware of.
~
The next day I woke up and realized that I had nothing to do. With Wulfric’s gym closed, I assumed all the other ones were as well. Christmas was in two days, and whatever sort of raid the Jenny’s was doing would be happening in eight.
So I decided that I would turn all those supplies I have into actual pokeblocks. It wouldn’t take the entire day, but I could just take it easy.
At least, I would have if not for Rio’s insistence on starting to train more. That was at least something to focus on, and in fact I spent the rest of the day doing that after I’d made as many pokeblocks as I could.
Liar, Bungle, Disaster, and Immodest were starting to adjust to the Gravity and were actually starting to be able to run a bit. Immodest was the one who was adapting the quickest, but Liar wasn’t far behind. Soon I’d have to talk about what sort of defense style they wanted, and start working them into the training.
Training passed mostly peacefully, although it was clear Diancie was holding a bit of a grudge against everyone, but since it was spread to everyone she was clearly unsure where to focus it. In the end it just meant her rocks were thrown a bit harder than usual.
Then it was Christmas Eve.
The morning felt a bit… odd. And when I stepped out of the training room, I realized why. Everything was decorated. The normal lights of the halls were off, and there were fairy lights decorating the walls instead. Little Christmas things, like snowflakes and small pine trees were scattered about.
It actually brought a smile to my face and I found myself wandering the building, instead of heading to the locker room to do my morning routine. It was a bit inconvenient - having to use a locker room for hygiene stuff - but it beat a cold river.
Eventually I came to the entry room, finding Valerie and Allie putting up decorations. Well, mostly Valerie just stood there, ordering Ren, her Sylveon, and numerous other Pokemon. There was a Mawile, a Mr. Mime, a Floette, a Spritzee, a Gardevoir, a Dedenne, and even a Klefki. It was the first time I’d seen all of Valerie’s Pokemon. But I knew they were hers, as Allie had her own Pokemon helping her out: another Dedenne and a Slurpuff.
From what I knew of the secretary, she wasn’t really a Trainer and only ever got a few badges before realizing that it wasn’t what she wanted to do with her life. I had yet to find out how she came to be the secretary at Laverre’s gym, but I hadn’t really talked with her that much. Her Slurpuff was apparently really strong, though, and the reason that no one really caused a fuss inside the gym. Valerie had mentioned that it was almost at the Elite level, and Ren and it trained a lot together.
“How long have you been at this?” I asked as I approached the two women. Allie startled at my sudden voice, but relaxed when she saw who was speaking.
Valerie didn’t even look back. “Just a few hours. Most gyms host a Christmas party for all the Trainers in town. Since a lot of them don’t have the means to get back home for Christmas.”
“Don’t have a means?” I questioned, rubbing my chin. “What about the train?”
“Those on their Journey are encouraged not to use the trains,” Allie explained. “At least until they have several badges. It’s sort of like, a right of passage?”
I nodded a bit. “Makes sense.”
“Bit harsh they don’t let kids go back home for the Holidays,” Allie added with a bit of a sigh. “I know I was miserable…” She shook her head. “Anyways. We’re just about done with the decorations.”
“Is there going to be dinner? I could help cook up some stuff,” I offered, rubbing my hands together. If they had a pasta machine I could get in some practice.
“Oh that would be great!” Valerie said, skipping over to me. “I’m sure Monsieur and Mimi would love to have help from such a great cook.” The Gardevoir and Mr. Mime looked over at their names being called. The Mr. Mime gave me a rather harsh look.
“I don’t know about great. I’m just very good at a few dishes,” I said with a bit of a chuckle.
Valerie tilted her head to the side. “I guess I haven’t ever seen you make anything aside from curry…”
“Fear not the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks once, fear the man who has practiced one kick ten thousand times,” I said, nodding in a sagely manner.
Everyone just sort of looked at me for a moment before Valerie just rolled her eyes and went back to instructing. They all sort of just brushed me off after that, which I honestly found funny. Bruce Lee probably didn’t exist in this world, even though he had a Pokemon based on him. That honestly felt like a shame…
Although I shouldn’t dwell on ghosts of those from a different reality, it did make me pause for a moment and think about it. I had been trying hard to put out the thoughts of what my life was, but it kept creeping back into my mind. Tragedy sure does make you think of more gentle times. Simple times. Boring times. Routine times.
The rest of the day was honestly kinda surreal. I helped out a lot in the kitchen, and Mimi, the Mr. Mime, scrutinized every little thing I did, making comments constantly. Clearly I had unwittingly stepped into her domain. Again I felt like I was on some sort of cutthroat cooking show. And they didn’t even have a pasta machine.
Monsieur was at least pleasant and a great help in the kitchen. I thought having multiple shadow hands do things for you helped, but damn that was nothing compared to psychic powers. He was fast, efficient, and handed me ingredients I needed before I even asked for them. Figuratively and literally reading my mind. Although, was that possible through my dark energy? It wasn’t harmful, so it shouldn’t be blocked? I really needed to figure out how this stuff worked. He also quietly apologized for how Mimi was acting. Apparently she hated when Valerie let other people use the kitchen.
However, I took odd satisfaction in watching Mimi’s reaction when I was done and she actually tasted the curry. She had such a condescending look on her face as she looked it over, and then tasted it. For a brief moment a look of bliss came over her face, which then snapped into surprise, and then frustration. She didn’t comment on it and stormed out of the kitchen. Monsieur had to chase after her.
I was promptly kicked out of the kitchen when Mimi returned and wasn’t allowed back.
The party itself was rather lively, since the vast majority were children and teens. Some Joy’s and Jenny’s were there as well, keeping the peace. And it was something that needed keeping, apparently. As the night wore on, a couple of the Trainers got rowdy, and some battles were declared. Thankfully with this being a gym, they all could go and do that in some designated arenas. It really made me pause again at just how large this building was.
At one point, much to my shock, I spotted someone across the room I recognized. Someone who I had really not been expecting to see. AZ was there, head down, piling food onto a plate. I quickly tried to excuse myself, and rush across the room, but by the time I got through the crowd he was gone. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that near encounter. That was someone I really wanted to meet and talk to, but it was almost like he knew and had purposefully avoided me. I guess living for a few thousand years makes you really good at avoiding conversations.
Thankfully someone who wasn’t there was Diantha. Valerie told me later that night that she was at the League Christmas party. It was apparently a big affair, and had a lot of very important people there. It sounded extremely boring to me and she agreed. Apparently Diantha had been texting her quite a lot, every text a new complaint. Honestly I was surprised she hadn’t texted me at all, but her and Valerie seemed to be getting a lot closer as of late.
“Wow, you’re really setting your sights high, aren’t you Valerie?” I commented, chuckling as we were watching the last remnants of party goers head out. I was honestly glad it was winding down. Nothing eventful had happened, and honestly it felt a bit like a waste of time.
“What?” Valerie looked at me, her brow furrowed.
“First an Elite Four member, and now the Champion? Who will you start flirting with next?” I mused aloud, trying to keep the smirk off my face.
It took a moment for her to register what I said, but the moment she did her face went bright red, and rather than retorting she started to slap me with her costume wings.
All I did was laugh at her feeble attempt. She proceeded to loudly complain that I was bullying her as she continued to slap, though she was also trying not to laugh.
Allie came over, a perplexed look on her face. “What’s going on over here?”
“Oh, Allie.” I reigned in my laughter a bit, wearing a massive grin. “Well, you see, I was just asking Valerie how she had the nerve to-”
“No!” Valerie screamed, trying to cover my mouth, but her costume made it completely impossible to reach up like that, and so she just continued to bat at me with her wings. “Shut up! I was not! I am not! I did not!”
Allie just looked even more confused as I devolved into even more laughter, unable to even finish my sentence.
Eventually Allie left, and Valerie stormed off in a huff, cursing me for teasing her. Overall, it was a good time. And all the Pokemon were extra happy at the end of the night because they got to eat all of the leftovers. Apparently they always make a ton of food, and after they feed their own Pokemon, give the excess to the nearby wild Pokemon.
I wanted to go and see, but apparently it was entirely done by the Pokemon. Not even Valerie was allowed to go out and see all the wild Pokemon.
Before I managed to make it back to the room I was using, Valerie suddenly caught up to me. “Hey.” She suddenly pulled a small box out, holding it out to me. “Merry Christmas.”
“Oh, thank you.” I smiled as I took the box. It felt a bit heavy. “Can I open it now, or do you want me to wait?”
She shrugged. “You can wait. But I kinda wanna see you open it,” she said with a rather large smile.
I chuckled a bit as I opened it. Inside was an almost fist sized pale blue stone, with a large snowflake sealed within. “Oh! An ice stone! I thought you couldn’t get evolution stones?”
“Not for ourselves,” she explained, nodding a bit. “But for others that aren’t restricted, that’s easy enough.”
There was quite a big smile on my face. “Keo is going to be so happy. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, giving me a hug. “Merry Christmas.”
I smiled as I returned the hug. “Merry Christmas, Valerie.”
As I walked back towards the training room, I looked at the ice stone. It was cold to the touch, like I was holding an ice cube. But I was hesitant. With how rebellious and confrontational Keo was getting, I could only imagine how much worse it would get when she evolved. I decided that I needed to sit and have a long talk with Keo before giving her the stone.
Unfortunately, Keo was just not having it. I spent quite a bit of time that night trying to get her to talk, even asking her what was wrong, but she refused to explain. She just snapped at me, telling me nothing was wrong before literally running away from me. She avoided me for the rest of the night. She didn’t even come join the sleep pile that night.
Surprisingly, Christmas Day was uneventful. Just the way that I liked it. Everyone apparently decided it was television day, and there were quite a lot of Christmas specials. And now that I was paying attention again, I realized where Keo was getting her attitude from.
One of the Mystery Dungeon teams had a Ninetails. He was arrogant, rude, and prideful. He was also a solo team. Thinking about it, a lot of the episodes he was in had to do with him getting in over his head, and needing the help of the protagonist team to get him out of trouble.
The problem was he was strong. Clearly stronger than the other teams, and him allowing them to ‘rescue’ him was clearly just for show. It was like he was an adult just humoring the kids when they tried to help with grown up problems. And Keo had clearly picked up on that.
Which wouldn’t have been a problem, except for his motto that he often repeated when people asked why he didn’t have a teammate, or why he didn’t ask for help; “I don’t need others to be strong. I got this far on my own.” Truly a purposefully bad role model.
Keo got upset when Rio pointed out how dumb that was, and they got into an argument. To make matters worse, no one was on Keo’s side. Everyone ganged up on her, and I had to break it up before it broke out into an actual fight. I tried to talk to Keo again, but she wanted nothing to do with me and refused to even acknowledge my attempts to get her to talk with me.
I was starting to get frustrated with her. But I knew I had to drop it. She was starting to get upset with me because I kept bringing it up. “I know there’s something wrong,” I said to her that night. “But since you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll drop it. Just know that you can talk to me about anything.”
She didn’t give me a response, but seemed to cool down a bit.
~
The next three days passed by in a sort of blur. It was a bit odd to just get back to training and not really have anything to worry about. Keo was still being difficult, and I was really hoping that getting slapped around by Wulfric would mellow her out. It wasn’t that I didn’t have faith in her, but it was a bad matchup.
Keo was heavily invested in her ice energy, and had refused to train any other types of moves. I hadn’t been worried about it until she started demanding to fight Wulfric. But despite my attempts to get her to practice other moves, she was adamant about only using ice. It was like she needed to prove that her ice was the strongest. She was also avoiding every attempt I made to start a conversation with her.
Eventually the day came and we were once again in Snowbelle, making our way to the Pokecenter gondola combo.
It was just after one when we entered the Pokecenter. There were a few Trainers in there, several of whom looked downtrodden. I supposed Wulfric already had a few more notches in his win category. Nurse Joy smiled at me as I approached before seeming to recognize me. “Ah! Jason. That’s right, you have a battle today.”
I nodded. “I want my Pokemon checked out and make sure they’re in good condition.” As I spoke, I placed all of the pokeballs into the two trays. I hadn’t brought everyone, but Keo, Cara, Rio, Dee, Diancie, and Primarina were all in the pokeballs. Of course, I brought Eevee as well, since she wanted to come.
“Goodness you have a lot,” she murmured but then seemed to realize her mistake and straighten up. “Of course. I will return shortly.”
The Wigglytuff seemed to eye me in a confused way as she took the trays, but didn’t say anything. I was discovering that carrying around a full team of six wasn’t common. Since all gyms were at most three versus three, a lot of Trainers simply swapped out, leaving their other Pokemon at designated care facilities, or with family. That way they didn’t have to care for so many while they traveled. And here I was with seven.
I went and sat down, waiting for my Pokemon. As I did so I overheard the conversations going on between two Trainers nearby. “-such a jerk. Not only did he beat me, but he taunted me the whole time,” the taller of the two boys said.
“Well what did you expect? No one’s beaten him this season so far,” the other boy said, and by his tone it sounded like he also lost.
“But like… Aren’t Gym Leaders supposed to guide us?” he questioned, his brow furrowing. “That’s what they taught us back in school. And all the other times I lost, they gave advice and words of encouragement.”
“Wulfric is just a jerk.”
The conversation ended abruptly as a Wigglytuff approached, returning pokeballs to the two boys. They thanked her before swiftly leaving, talking about needing to train more.
It wasn’t too much longer before I was given my pokeballs as well, and Wigglytuff told me everyone was in good shape and ready to go. Although she warned my Eevee was in no shape to battle. I assured her that I was aware, and merely keeping her close so that she got regular checkups and I could keep an eye on her recovery.
The gondola ride was actually really nice. The entire thing was automated, a small little voice denoting when the doors were closing. I retrieved Eevee and placed her onto my shoulder. She was doing so much better now and was becoming livelier by the day. She had begged me to let her watch the battle, even though I had warned her it was going to be really cold.
She shivered and crawled into my hood. “Damn it’s cold,” she grumbled.
I just chuckled. “I told you it would be, you silly little girl.”
All I got in response was a huff as she settled into the warmth of my hood.
The ride took about twenty minutes. And when it was finally over I could see the massive facility that was the gym. “This definitely looks like some kind of villain's lair from an eighties movie,” I mumbled as I gazed at the structure. It was made of metal and smooth stone, a striking contrast to the area around.
There was an odd massive half dome that looked like some kind of hanger entrance several floors below where the gondola had dropped me off. Ahead was a large door, and I could see a few people inside.
When I walked in, everyone looked over at me. They all looked dressed for some sort of arctic exploration, but I was also dressed pretty similarly. The only one that seemed to be the exception was someone sitting behind a desk. Rather than being dressed warmly, they were wrapped up in a ridiculously large blanket, and gave off a vibe that they were not happy to be there.
“I’m here for the two o’clock challenge,” I said to the bundled up individual. The room was large, and I glanced at the large screens on the wall that were depicting the current battle from several angles. Wulfric looked bored, and his challenger looked like he was on the brink of tears.
The entire room went silent. “The elite challenge?” the pile of blankets responded. I could see nothing but their eyes.
I nodded. “Yes.”
There were a few moments of silence before they shifted, and slowly got up. “Alright. Follow me.” They started to slowly make their way off to a nearby passage. I couldn’t help but compare them to Cousin It from the Addams Family, but instead of hair, they were blankets.
“Hope your will is up to date!” someone called out behind, and everyone started laughing.
“Been a while since we’ve seen an elite beatdown,” someone else said.
After that I couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation. We didn’t travel far before the blanket figure opened a door and led the way inside. “When that light turns green,” they said, gesturing with a blanket-covered arm to a red light above a door. “Head through the door.”
“Alright.” They left immediately after, closing the door. This appeared to be some sort of locker room. And it was surprisingly warm. I took off the poofy jacket and shoved it into my bag before sitting down on a bench. I reached into my coat and pulled out a pokeball, releasing Keo.
“Well?” she said, sitting down in front of me.
“We’re about to fight Wulfric,” I said slowly, looking her over.
She straightened up, seemingly to become quite focused. “Finally.”
“I want to talk strategy,” I started, and she frowned at me. “Don’t give me that look. This is going to be a hard fight. These are Pokemon on the same level as Rio and Cara, and they’re going to be resistant to all of your ice attacks.”
She huffed, looking away.
I looked at her for a moment. “Look, no matter what you do in this fight… Do not use Snowscape. You can do anything else, but do not use that. I know it benefits you, but it will also help them.”
Keo didn’t respond, staring towards the door. I wondered if she could feel the energy coming from the battle, or hear it? Either way, she wasn’t focused on me.
Before I could continue, the red light suddenly turned green. “Okay,” I said with a sigh as I stood up. “Let’s do our best.”
She barely glanced at me before she started to head towards the door and I followed after.
On the other side of the door was a massive room, the walls covered in large machinery. In a slightly sunken area in the center, taking up most of the room, was the battle arena. And across, sitting on a throne made of ice, was a large man. He was wearing a white tanktop, with a large blue coat draped over his shoulders like a cape. His hair was white, and he had a rather interesting mustache that came down in a manner similar to tusks or icicles.
“So you’re Jason?” he called out as I stepped into the battle arena. The floor was slick with ice, and it was a bit of a struggle to keep my footing.
“Pleasure to meet you, Wilfric,” I responded.
He huffed, and then turned his focus to a very familiar referee, who straightened up at his gaze. “This is an official gym battle between the Gym Leader Wulfric, and the Pokemon Expert Jason, for the Elite Iceberg Badge” he announced, pointing out both sides to the recording cameras. “Three versus three. No swaps. I or the Trainer will determine if a Pokemon is unable to continue battling. A Pokemon that leaves the battlefield must return as quickly as possible, or be counted as knocked out. The Gym Leader will reveal their Pokemon first. Gym Leader, if you are ready, please release your first Pokemon.”
The words seemed to have awakened Eevee, as she crawled partially out of my hood to be a silent observer to the battles. I wondered why they had to announce the rules every time, but I supposed it was to remind everyone. Maybe it was because it was being recorded, since it seemed he was talking to the cameras?
Wulfric didn’t get up, not even entering the proper area for battle, and simply threw a pokeball. When it was released I was met with the sight of an absolutely massive chunk of ice, like some sort of iceberg that was completely flat on the top. He had sent out his Avalugg.
A frown crept onto my face. Was this the same one from the game? If it was, it would have the Ice Body ability, allowing it to heal during hail or snow storms, and ignore any damage the storm caused. “Don’t use Snowscape,” I cautioned again. “Keep mobile, don’t get close. You’re faster than he is, but he hits harder.”
Keo just huffed as she walked forward into the arena.
Wulfric frowned. “That’s who you’re sending out first?” he asked, clearly unimpressed.
“She wants to fight you,” I explained, gesturing to her.
He tsked. “Aymond was right, you really are naive.”
I frowned a bit more. That was a name I was hoping to not hear anytime soon. But before I could say anything more, the referee raised his hand. “Gym Leader Wulfric, are you ready?”
“End this quickly,” he said as he leaned back in his chair.
“Expert Jason, are you ready?” the referee asked towards me, and I nodded in response. “Begin!” he called as he dropped his hand.
Immediately the Avalugg began channeling the tannish energy of rock, and large stones began forming in the air around him. That was interesting… Had Wulfric taught his Pokemon how to take advantage of type advantages, or was this coincidence?
Keo didn’t stay idle, shooting forward and to the left. The arena had no points of cover, so keeping herself moving and attempting to move into blind spots was a good way to start off. She leapt as her path was suddenly pelted with the small boulders.
Bits of ice formed around her, shaping into icicles and firing back, some intercepting the rocks, but the majority of them slamming into the Avalugg. Icicle Spear wasn’t her best move, but she was able to easily use it while running, so it was a good choice.
Unfortunately her opponent wasn’t going to take a lot from that. It did seem a bit bothered, but it hardly left anything more than a few scuffs. This was where her stubbornness in only using ice moves was going to hurt her.
Rocks continued to pelt the arena as the Avalugg did its best to track her, but she was too fast. It was going to come down to stamina. “Aim for his legs,” I called out after a few minutes. At first she ignored me, but eventually more of her shots started to land into his leg.
“Going for a battle of attrition?” Wulfric called with a laugh. “Your little fox will tire long before my Avalugg. Stop toying with her and end it.”
Suddenly the rocks started to change trajectory mid air, rather than flying straight, they curved as if homing in on Keo. And to add to it, he was stomping his feet, each one causing a stalagmite to shoot out from under her. But unlike most Pokemon, Keo was very used to rocks flying at her. Diancie was never gentle with her during training.
Keo didn’t even look like she was getting tired. Constantly changing directions and making her path unpredictable while continually pelting the Avalugg with icicles. “Throw in some Icy Winds, slow him down even more.” It was going to be the only way she’d have a chance at winning. Wulfric had unknowingly given her the opponent she had the best chance of beating.
The problem was going to be stamina. Keo didn’t have the best stamina, and had to compensate for a missing leg. If she pushed too hard, it wouldn’t be long before her front leg would start struggling to keep up with the movements. And it looked like she was already pushing herself as hard as possible to avoid and attack. The Avalugg would be in pretty rough shape if she used anything but ice moves.
“What a dumb trick,” Wulfric said, shaking his head. My eyes snapped to him before moving back to Keo. “Relying on her crippled appearance to lull opponents into a false sense of security.”
Keo’s eyes snapped to him, which was a mistake as a rock clipped her tails, throwing her off balance, causing a burst of Stone Edge to shoot from the floor and brush against her side, leaving a rather harsh looking mark against her fur.
“And she doesn’t have enough focus,” he said with a smirk.
“Talk about cheap tricks,” I responded. “Attempting to fluster your opponent with words.”
“That’s just a tactic.” He shrugged. “It’s not my fault your little thing can’t handle a bit of banter.”
“So if I use it, it’s a trick, but if you use it, it’s a tactic?” I questioned, glaring across the field at him, but I needed to focus. Keo was struggling. She’d backed off quite a lot since taking those hits, and was clearly getting frustrated. Suddenly her tails splayed, and began to glow with icy blue energy. “Keo, don’t use Snowscape,” I said, recognizing the move she was about to use. I was about to explain why
“Shut up!” she snapped, glaring at the Avalugg in front of her. “Stop talking! I don’t need your help!”
I opened my mouth to try and argue, but then closed it. I looked at her for a moment and sighed. I really couldn’t get through to her no matter what I tried, and I was tired of trying. “Fine.” I folded my arms.
Snow began to fall across the battlefield. This was going to be even worse for her than she realized. Even through the snow, I could see the little scuffs and cracks scattered throughout the Avalugg’s body start to disappear. Keo was oblivious, and darted in to continue the tactic of dodging and slowly wearing down her opponent.
But the only one she’d be wearing down was herself.
Keo had the Snow Cloak ability. It made her harder to see, and thus harder to hit, when it was snowing or hailing. Normally it was a good idea, but I had warned her against the tactic twice, and she didn’t listen. Maybe I was just too used to everyone else? None of them gave me this much pushback. But Keo wouldn’t even hear my explanation. I told her back in the waiting room that it would benefit her opponent, but she either didn’t care or didn’t listen.
I was honestly done with her attitude.
It wasn’t too long before Avalugg looked completely fine, almost like he had never gotten hit. However, Keo had taken two more glancing blows. She was getting tired. Her movements were starting to get a little sloppy, but that was fair after half an hour of battle. There was really nothing she could do at this point.
She suddenly took a rather hard hit to the side from a Stone Edge before a stone struck her directly in the face. A few more hit her as she was flung back, skidding across the floor only to get pitched into the air again by another Stone Edge.
Everything stopped for a moment as she struggled. I raised her pokeball, intent on returning her. “No!” she screamed, managing to get to her feet. “I’m not done!”
“Yes you are,” I said simply, returning her to the ball. I sighed as I tucked her pokeball away into my coat. She could have probably held out for a lot longer if she hadn’t been spending so much energy to keep the snow storm up. She might have even won. But she wasted energy on the damn snow.
“Jason’s Pokemon has been recalled, and is no longer able to battle!” the referee announced, raising a hand towards Wulfric. “First round goes to Gym Leader Wulfric. Expert Jason, please release your next Pokemon.”
“That’s it?” Wulfric said with a laugh. “Hardly a warm up. You’re going to have to take this a lot more seriously, boy. This is war, afterall.”
I frowned at him as I pulled out a pokeball. “Cara, show him how serious we are,” I said as I tossed the ball forward. Cara immediately slipped into a combat form as soon as she was released. Snow immediately started to gather atop her head and shoulders.
Wulfric frowned, clearly annoyed. Of course, I would be too if my opponent just sent out a Pokemon that countered every single one of my Pokemon. Most ice Pokemon were weak to fighting and steel, so a Lucario was a very good counter.
“Begin!” the referee called.
A few rocks began to gather, but Cara pitched an almost instant Aura Sphere that crashed into the Avalugg’s face. It hadn’t been a very strong attack, but it had been enough to distract him and break his concentration.
By the time he looked around, Cara was out of sight, using the large pillars of rock and boulders that had been thrown as cover. Once she was sure he didn’t know her location she began to focus, channeling energy into another Aura Sphere.
Wulfric, also having lost sight of Cara thanks to her speed, frowned. “Earthquake,” he ordered.
The Avalugg reared back, brown energy coalescing around his large feet. However as he brought them down, Cara shot up. His feet crashed into the ground, sending out a ripple of energy that shattered stalagmites, and boulders exploded into pebbles and dust.
Both Pokemon and Trainer looked up, watching as Cara’s feet planted firmly onto the ceiling, having leapt the entire way to the top of the room. She had really outdone herself with this Aura Sphere. It was at least two feet in diameter and roiling with energy.
She fired it with enough force that her feet cracked the ceiling she was standing on. The poor Avalugg - who had been fighting for over half an hour - didn't stand a chance. He was driven to the ground by the sphere, and then it exploded. When the smoke had cleared, there was a noticeable crater on his back, the protective ice shell was completely overpowered.
Cara lunged, seeing that he was starting to get up. The ceiling buckled from her leap, but she slammed into the ice floor of the arena, as Wulfric had managed to recall his Pokemon before she hit. “Wulfric has recalled his Pokemon, the second round's winner is Jason,” the referee called. Clearly he had determined it was a waste to let his Pokemon get beat up for no reason. “Gym Leader, please send out your next Pokemon.”
Suddenly Cara was back on my side of the field, having retreated using Extreme Speed. “Showoff,” I muttered, a bit of a smile on my face.
“Now that’s more like it!” Wulfric said, laughing at his own defeat. “This is what I expected.” He tossed out another ball, releasing what looked to be a massive snowflake. Cryogonal was an odd choice.
“Begin!” the referee called.
Suddenly several shimmering translucent golden walls appeared in the air around the Cryogonal, as well as a number of massive icicle spears. A mixture of Reflect and Icicle Spear? Cara shot off to the side, launching a few probing, one handed Aura Spheres that were easily evaded. In response, the reflective walls shot off, spreading around the field. And then I witnessed the tactic.
The spears launched, some at Cara, some at the walls. The ones that hit a wall changed trajectory, also launching towards her. Dodging just meant that the spears would be deflected somewhere else, coming back shortly after bouncing off a few of the shields.
As Cara had to focus more on dodging the sporadic Icicle Spears, the Cryogonal was making more walls and adding more spears. “Don’t let the spears build up,” I said calmly, watching the honestly impressive technique. It wouldn’t matter if Cara was resistant to ice if she was overwhelmed.
I was expecting her to start destroying the spears at my warning, but I guess that’s just what I would have done. Cara rushed, sliding under one of the reflective shields that was between her and the Cyrogonal. Her paw shot up, grabbing hold of one of the lower parts of the Pokemon, using the momentum to swing up behind them while pulling them forward so they were now looking at the ground.
One of her legs flashed into a burst of orange energy as for a few seconds she hung in the air above them before her foot crashed down, slamming them into the ground. Immediately she dodged to the side as a dozen icicles exploded into the area she had just been. The Cryogonal was up almost immediately, the little shards of the spears launching themselves at Cara.
She launched several Aura Spheres at the smaller shards, clearing swaths of them out of the air, while she still managed to dodge incoming Icicle Spears from behind and from her sides. The amount of control the Cyrogonal had over their ice attacks was impressive. Wulfric was without a doubt a good Trainer to get them to that level.
However Cara wasn’t able to perfectly dodge them all, as a few brushed against her, leaving icy streaks in her fur, but unless it was a direct hit I doubted any of them would even slow her down. And now she was circling around, avoiding the ice shard cloud that was chasing her while maneuvering into a position to attack again.
It was honestly hard for me to follow her movements, but Wulfric seemed to be struggling as well. “She’s circling around!” he called out.
Her eyes flicked to him for a split second before she launched an Aura Sphere behind the Cryogonal, the resulting explosion obscuring Wulfric’s vision for a few seconds. However the warning had been effective, and the Cryogonal had shifted its position and was moving away. With another Aura Sphere to the floor between her and her opponent, she leaped up again.
When the smoke disappeared, Wulfric’s eyes widened a bit when he couldn’t see Cara, his eyes quickly scanning the field. The Cryogonal had lost her as well, looking around as it summoned more Reflect shields. “Above!” Wulfric shouted, but it was too late as Cara slammed into the other Pokemon, both paws glowing a vibrant orange as they drove the snowflake into the ground.
The golden walls shattered, and the spears lost the energy keeping them going and pelted the walls of the arena.
There was a short silence before the referee called out, “Wulfric’s Pokemon is unable to battle. Round three goes to Jason. Gym Leader, please send out your last Pokemon.”
Cara leapt back, not using Extreme Speed this time. Her chest was heaving, and I knew she was getting tired. I gave her a questioning look as I held up her pokeball, but she waved her paw vaguely to brush off my concern.
Wulfric looked annoyed. “I see I have to take this seriously as well,” he said as he released his next Pokemon. A large bipedal Pokemon covered in shaggy white fur. And then before the referee could even begin, Wulfric raised his fist and I felt a cold shiver run down my spine.
There was a burst of light as the Abomasnow’s form shifted, growing in size and gaining two additional limbs as it Mega Evolved. That was honestly not something I was expecting. Gym Leaders didn’t do that in the game, but there was no rule against it.
Cara had tensed, falling into her fighting stance again. “Let’s see how you handle a real battle!” Wulfric called. “Real war!” He was leaning forward on his throne now, no longer relaxed.
Before the referee had a chance to even begin the battle, the Abomasnow roared, shaking the entire building. It started to rush forward, and Cara dashed to the side, pelting it with Aura Sphere’s. With a swipe of his arm, he brushed the spheres out of the air. Little explosions flashed across his arm, leaving little sooty smudges.
His retort was a series of massive Icicle Spears. Not only were they larger than Cryogonal’s, they moved significantly faster. Cara actually struggled to dodge the first one before she adjusted to the increased speed.
She entered her charging stance, flashing with Extreme Speed to continue dodging as she worked energy into the new Aura Sphere. It was interesting to me how her stance had shifted during training, gaining a more solid yet somehow more mobile stance that reminded me of something I couldn’t quite place my finger on. And now all that training of charging while moving was being showcased, and even Wulfric seemed a bit surprised as he sat up straighter.
She let out a rather forceful shout of “Ha!” as she launched it. It connected with one of the icicles, but it did almost nothing to slow it down, just taking a chunk from the sphere. The Abomasnow raised its arms and the whole arena was rocked with the explosion.
When the smoke cleared, his arms looked scorched, but otherwise he was unharmed. “Is that it?” he taunted Cara. He flexed his arms a bit. “I actually felt that one.”
Cara frowned as she started to charge another Aura Sphere. Despite his words, it was easy to tell that had hurt, judging by the way he was flexing his fingers. Several more Icicle Spears formed in the air around Abomasnow, but these ones began to slowly spin like drills.
All the spinning ice drills launched at the same time, and my eyes narrowed, only one of them was aimed at Cara. I spotted it too late, things were happening too fast. “Cara watch out!”
One of the drills clipped her side, piercing the Aura Sphere that she was charging as well as dragging across her side. It burst into a small explosion as she staggered away. He had calculated where she would dodge after just watching her for a few moments? My eyes glanced at Wulfric. Had he taught his Pokemon Foresight? No, he would have only launched two, instead of six. The other four had been aimed at other locations she was likely to dodge. What an insane amount of battle perception.
Wulfric grinned. “This is how war is fought, boy. If you can’t read the battlefield, you die.”
Cara had patterns. I knew that, but to pick them up that quickly… I don’t understand how he did that. Was that sort of thing needed to be on the level of an Elite Four? We had so much farther to go if that’s the case.
“Cara, change it up,” I said, though I wasn’t sure what exactly to do. “He’s predicting where you’ll dodge.” As I was thinking, and talking to Cara, the Abomasnow was reading another volley of drill spears.
She nodded as she focused on the large fur covered Pokemon across from her. She flickered the moment they were launched, using Extreme Speed and sliding on the ice to lengthen her dodge, even by a little. It almost didn’t work, as one of the spears pierced the ground beside her. But it had worked enough. Now she was clear across the field, far off to my right. Energy began gathering rapidly as she charged up another Aura Sphere.
“You really are so naive…” Wulfric said with a shake of his head. “Abomasnow. Finish it.”
In response to his Trainers command, the Pokemon’s stance widened, and a bright light flickered to life in front of his open mouth. Hyper Beam? At that range? Cara could easily dodge.
“Do it,” Wulfric said, much to my confusion.
And then the Abomasnow shifted.
It was a slight movement that completely changed the angle of the shot.
My heart skipped a beat.
My body tensed.
He was aiming at me.
There was a flash, and I put up my arms, trying to scramble out of the way, but I couldn’t get traction on the ice. There was an explosion and I felt myself hit the wall before everything went black.
Something was pressing against my face, and when I managed to open my eyes there was a brown blur in front of me. Slowly things came into focus and I could see Eevee. She was shoving at my face with her paw. Her eye was closed, and I could see a bit of blood soaking through her fur on that side of her head, like she’d been struck by something.
Then the pain hit and I forced my eyes closed. My left arm hurt, and when I tried to move it there was a jolt of pain, but it responded. Slowly I shifted, looking up to try and figure out what was going on.
Eevee was talking, saying something, but my ears were ringing and I couldn’t make out her words. My eyes focused on the figure behind her, standing in front of me.
It was Cara.
She was facing away, her arms outstretched.
Even in the muddled state of mind I had, I knew immediately what she had done. She had taken the hit for me. I hadn’t been hit by the attack, but I’d still been too close. It seemed all my injuries were from debris from the explosion, the explosion itself, and hitting the wall.
I tried to call out to her, but I couldn’t even hear my own voice.
She wobbled.
And then toppled forward.
Pain gripped at my chest as she hit the ground.
I fumbled a bit, trying to get her pokeball. It had slipped from my hand, but it was nearby. It was so close. I had to return her. Put her into stasis. Eevee pushed the pokeball into my hand and I raised it, Cara turning into a burst of red light before disappearing.
Wulfric was… saying something. Laughing? Mocking? I couldn’t tell.
The referee was looking at me, a bit of a concerned expression on his face as he spoke. Probably announcing that Cara was unable to battle, and I had to send out my next Pokemon.
I caught a look at my injured arm. It was bleeding. The sleeve had been torn apart by shards of ice, and a few bits of ice and floor had pierced the skin. There was a small chunk of ice in my bicep. That explained why it hurt so much.
I needed Dee.
Reaching into my coat, I fumbled for her ball. My fingers felt numb.
No.
Not Dee.
Then Dee would have to fight.
I couldn’t send out Dee. She wouldn’t be able to focus on the battle because I was injured.
My fingers brushed across a different pokeball.
And then I felt something.
Rage.
Pure, intense, overflowing rage.
I slowly pulled out the ball and released who it held. Black paws took shape in front of me, and then I was lifted up and placed on my feet. Rio was standing in front of me, her jaw clenched while tears pricked the corner of her eyes.
She made sure that I was able to stay up, before stepping back and turning around. Her fists clenched so hard they were shaking.
The ringing was still intense, but I could hear some things now. I heard Wulfric’s mocking tone. “Another Lucario? Oh he looks upset.” He laughed. “Was the other one his mate?” he mused. “No… This one looks young. Perhaps this is her child?”
Rio stalked forward as the referee called out, “Begin!”
Her entire focus was on the Abomasnow. “Oho? You’re approaching me?” the Pokemon taunted in an oddly familiar line.
“I can’t beat the shit out of you without getting closer,” Rio said smoothly, every step slow and deliberate, her fists crackling with silver energy.
The Pokemon seemed amused at her response, but before he could respond, Wulfric barked an order. “Stop taunting them and end it.”
Several spinning Icicle Spears quickly formed around him before the order had even finished. He was making the assumption that Rio and Cara would fight the same way. While it was true they had similar fighting styles, their application was extremely different. So his assumption was proven wrong immediately after he launched the spikes.
Rio never broke stride, the five that were attempting to read her dodge hit nothing but the ground. And the one that was aimed at her? With a motion that looked effortless, she backhanded it away. It spiraled in an almost comical way and exploded against a wall.
There was a moment of silence as her opponents just stared in an attempt to register what just happened.
A mixture of orange and silver energy crackled along her arms, the Abomasnow smirked, clearly ready for a good fight. Pale blue energy began to form ice around one of his hands and he lunged forward, swinging full force at Rio.
The ground buckled under her feet, and her legs almost gave out from the force of the blow, but she remained standing. She stood there like the move had done nothing, gripping his fist as he held him in place. Again there was a beat of silence, as the Abomasnow stared down at this much smaller Pokemon, absolutely gobsmacked at what just happened.
Rio pulled her arm back, an intense rush of orange energy flowing over it. All of her muscles bulged to an extreme, causing her arm to nearly double in size. Her fist was coated in crackling silver energy, with wisps of orange escaping like steam. “Iron Cannon!” she screamed, her voice cracking from emotion.
The sound rocked the entire room, living up to the name of the move as it sounded like an artillery cannon was just fired. Her fist made contact with the other Pokemon’s chest, knocking all of the wind from his lungs. Spittle flecked with blood bursting from his mouth as a visible shockwave burst out from his back.
Wulfric tilted his head to the side as the corner of his throne shattered, and the wall behind gained a sizable dent. His eyes were wide as he watched his Abomasnow return to its normal form and drop to its knees. Wulfric hadn’t dodged, he had flinched and been lucky that the blow wasn’t more aimed at him.
Slowly, Rio pulled her arm back again. There was an audible crack, like the cocking of a gun. “Rio,” I said softly, and she froze. “That’s enough.”
The energy dissipated immediately and her arm sagged, returning to its normal shape before falling limp. She let go of the Abomasnow and it collapsed now that she was no longer holding it up.
I returned her as the referee called out. “Abomasnow is no longer able to battle. Gym Leader Wulfric has been defeated, and the winner is Pokemon Expert Jason.”
Letting out a slow breath, I watched as it fogged up immediately. Looking down, Eevee was leaning against my leg, her eyes mostly closed as she was breathing rather hard. I pulled out her pokeball and returned her as well.
“Well done, well done!” Wulfric said as he crossed the battlefield towards me.
Without really thinking, I started to walk towards him. One thought on my mind.
“I think you did well to deserve this,” he continued, pulling out a snowflake shaped badge with a large star on it. “Beating me is no simple-”
My fist made contact with the side of his face, and he dropped like a bag of bricks from a well executed Sucker Punch. “What is wrong with you?! You tried to kill me!” I shouted, taking note of the odd little wisps of black smoke rising from my knuckles. I barely felt the contact of the hit. I shook my hand to disperse the smoke, taking a mental note to think on that later.
He laughed, rubbing at his jaw. “Nice shot. But you should expect that. You could be attacked at any time when it comes to war, boy.”
“This isn’t war you fucking psychopath,” I grabbed my injured arm, pulling the small shard of ice from it. “It’s a sport.” I tossed the bloodied shard away.
Wulfric just shook his head. “That’s what you young people always think.” He rolled over a bit, and made an attempt to stand up. “But that’s what these battles are to-”
I put my foot on his back, shoving him back down to the ground. I could feel my anger bubbling over. “You want me to treat this like war?” I growled, pressing him firmly into the battered floor of the arena. “You want me to treat you like an enemy?” My fingers flexed. Shadow Claw came unbidden to the forefront of my mind. I could do it. There was a vivid sense that I could simply stab him. Thrust claws into him and end this disgusting creature that believes itself superior. He was what was wrong with this world. People like him are why things were messed up.
His eyes met mine and his breathing seemed to hitch, his face going a bit pale as if having a sudden realization.
I glared down at him, my teeth clenched as I tried to calm down. To say I was pissed would be an understatement. After a moment I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That’s what I thought.” I stepped over him, driving my full weight into his back before taking a few steps to where the badge had fallen. I collected it without another word, limping off back towards the gondola.
I probably should have brought out Dee, but I needed to calm down. No one in the main room said a single word, all of them staring wide eyed at me as I walked through the room. Even the pile of blankets seemed stunned.
The cold outside immediately cooled all the anger that had built within me, and I was honestly thankful for that. I couldn’t even think of the last time I had been this upset. This full of anger. Probably bleed over from Rio’s aura. She was going to kill that Pokemon. There was no doubt in my mind about that. She had the full intention of ending him for what he did to her mother.
And it would have been deserved.
Entering the gondola, I was extremely grateful it was empty as I slumped into a seat. I reached into my coat, planning to retrieve Dee’s pokeball, but I had a different thought. “Might as well get this over with now…”
Instead of the nurse Pokemon, I released Keo onto the seat across from me. She took one look at me and then averted her eyes. Clearly upset.
In the silence, I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and folding my hands as I studied her. She was battered, her good eye slightly swollen and numerous wounds across her body.
We sat in silence for several minutes before I finally broke it. “I’m going to send you to Professor Kukui and have him release you..”
Her attention suddenly snapped to me. “What?”
“You can go find your old Trainer, or a new one,” I said calmly. “I don’t care.”
“Why?!” she shouted, “Because I lost?!”
“No,” I said firmly. “This has nothing to do with the fact you lost.” I took a deep breath. “You won’t listen to me.” She flinched. “I keep trying to help you, but the more I try the harder you fight me.”
She was silent, her gaze falling to the floor.
“Yeah I’d have trouble looking at me, too,” I grumbled, watching her.
“You… You promised…” she mumbled.
“Promised?” I snapped. “And I have been doing what I promised. I said I’d help you. I said I’d make you stronger. I’ve been doing that.” It was hard to not raise my voice at her. But I needed to be calm.
“You promised I could evolve!” she shouted, her voice wavering as she looked up and caught my expression.
I reached into my bag and pulled out the ice stone, tossing it onto the floor. “There.”
She stared at it. “You… You had the… You had the stone!” She looked back up at me, glaring, her teeth bared.
“Yes, I have the stone. I got it for Christmas,” I explained calmly. “And I have been trying to talk to you ever since, but you won’t have a conversation with me.”
All of the anger she had immediately melted away and her entire body seemed to sag. She was probably running through the last few days, on the many attempts I made to try and talk with her only for her to dismiss me.
Several minutes passed in silence. “I…” she started, trying to think of the words. “I don’t get the stone now, do I?”
“It’s your stone,” I said with a bit of a huff, leaning back. Immediately I regretted the movement, as my back stung. It was probably covered in bruises. “I got it for you. And I keep my promises.”
Again there was silence, and then tears began to fall down her face. “But…but I don’t want to go… You…you said I was part of your family…”
“And I want you to be. But you aren’t acting like we’re family. You’re treating us like strangers. Acting like we’re a burden. Like we’re in your way,” I responded.
“I… but…but Fiertula-”
“Isn’t real,” I interrupted. That was the name of the Ninetails from the Mystery Dungeon show. “Keo, that is not a real person. That is a Pokemon playing a role. An actor.”
From the look in her eyes it was like I just crushed all of her little dreams. “Actor?” she said softly.
I nodded. “None of them are actually doing any of those adventures. It’s all acting. It’s all pretend.”
She slumped where she was sitting. Maybe I should have explained that to all of them a long time ago? I mean, to me it was obvious that it was fake. There were a lot of errors that cropped up quite often, so it was really impossible to believe it. But that might just be me…
“But…but he… I was…” She looked up at me, as if she could find all the answers written on my face. “Why?” she mumbled. “It’s not fair.” Her head drooped, her body shaking as she was choking on sobs. “You can’t just ditch me… You’re the only ones who look at me like I’m normal.”
“Then you need to start acting like you’re part of this family,” I said softly. She nodded. “And family helps each other. They’re there for each other. And I have been here for you, Keo, this entire time.”
Again she just nodded, wiping at her face with her tails.
“Come here,” I said softly.
She hopped down from her seat, slowly walking over to me and sitting down at my feet. I sighed a bit as I reached down, scooping her up with some difficulty. She made a little “Eep!” noise as I placed her in my lap.
“You’re part of this family, Keo. All I ask is that you don’t push us away, alright?” I said softly, cleaning her face a bit with a cloth from my bag. It seemed the little ice princess was an ugly crier.
She nodded, huffing a bit at the rough way I cleaned her face of tears and snot. “Okay. I’m sorry…”
“You can evolve when we get back to the gym, alright?” I smiled a bit, gently stroking her back.
A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth and she nodded as she pressed her face into my stomach. “Okay.”
Chapter 29
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
Liar - Liepard - Big hungry cat
Bungle - Houndour - Just a little pup
Disaster - Houndoom - Bit of a space case
Immodest - Mightyena - Super serious
Alma - Egg (Fennekin) - Not up to too much yet.
Chapter Text
Pushing open the door to the Pokecenter, Joy’s eyes widened the moment she spotted me leaning against Dee. “Okay!” I announced to the room. “I understand why everyone says Wulfric is a jerk.” I wanted to say a much harsher word, but there were children present.
Dee helped me move across the room, Joy and her Wigglytuff rushing to also help. Dee had used a bit of her Heal Pulse to help with my injuries, but it was clear I needed medical attention. So while she berated me for not immediately calling her out, she was more concerned about getting to the Pokecenter as soon as possible. She was so pissed, but calmed down after examining me. It looked a lot worse than it actually was. In hindsight, sending her out probably would have been fine, and Rio wouldn’t have injured herself.
Joy started to check over my arm, and I winced slightly from the way she handled it. “Sorry,” she mumbled, but didn’t stop. “This is quite bad… What happened?” She was leading me towards the back room, and Wigglytuff was rushing over with a wheelchair of all things.
“Wulfric fucking Hyper Beamed me,” I said softly to her, just the thought of it pissed me off again. All three of them insisted that I sit in the wheelchair. “My Pokemon blocked it, but it was close enough that I got caught up in the blast.”
“You mean he-”
“Yes,” I interrupted, sighing heavily. “He specifically aimed it at me. Cara barely blocked it…” My thoughts wandered to her still in her pokeball. “Several of my Pokemon are injured.”
“Right. Right, we’ll deal with that,” she said as she pushed me through the door.
I fumbled a bit, trying to retrieve the pokeballs. My hands were shaking pretty bad. Probably from blood loss? Most of the bleeding had stopped thanks to Dee and a lot of the pain was gone, but I really should have prioritized myself. But I didn’t, as usual. Even with how injured I was, I was still more concerned about dealing with Keo and her situation. And I had fucked that up.
After a few hours and a lot of stitches, I was laying in a familiar room, on a familiar bed. I hadn’t actually ever been in this room, but with how consistent the Joy’s were about their accommodations it felt comfortably familiar.
Other than quite a lot of lacerations to my arm, and a few minor puncture wounds to my side and leg that I hadn’t even noticed, it was mostly just bruising. Bruised spine, ribs, and tailbone. Miraculously I didn’t have a concussion. Somehow managed to luck out there.
I considered letting someone out to keep me company, but I didn’t really want to be worried over. Primarina would be a mess. I didn’t want to do that to Scoly. And I had no idea how Diancie would react, aside from violence. So I just laid there with my thoughts.
“I need a drink…” I muttered.
I quickly realized that I really didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts, so I decided to release all three of them. All of them panicked when they caught sight of me, and I had to explain what happened. Primarina started bawling into my stomach immediately, clinging tightly to my legs. Scoly took her normal place on the bed, tucking herself into my side. She nearly pushed me off the bed with how hard she was pressing into me, but the weight of a blubbering seal kept me in place.
Diancie just floated there for several minutes, a thoughtful expression on her face. Which worried me greatly. And my concerns were immediately confirmed the moment she spoke. “I’m gonna kill him.”
“No, you can’t kill him,” I said with a sigh and a soft laugh. “As much as I’d like to… It would be too much of a headache.”
She just seemed to frown, her little face scrunching up for a moment. Eventually she huffed, folding her arms. “Can I throw rocks at him?”
I snorted. “Maybe. We’ll see.”
Diancie moved to float beside the bed, holding out her hand in a demanding way. I chuckled, and placed my hand into hers. It took quite a while of her playing with my fingers before she seemed to calm down. Eventually the large rock settled down and sat beside the bed, Primarina cried herself to sleep, and it looked like Scoly had also fallen asleep.
My eyes wandered to my coat, hanging up beside the bathroom. The left sleeve was mostly gone, just a lot of shredded cloth. There were a ton of holes, and some of the stitches in the hem had come loose. I thought about getting a new one, but then I wouldn’t match Banette. Mikyu would enjoy repairing it.
After laying for quite a while, thinking about the battle and enjoying the company of Pokemon, I raised my uninjured hand so that I could get a good look at it. I flexed my fingers a bit, attempting to bring forth some sort of energy. Trying to remember the feeling of whatever had happened when I struck Wulfric. But nothing happened. I tried for several minutes and my arm eventually felt tired, so I let it fall back down to the bed. I had clearly used the move Sucker Punch, or at least an approximation. That was a definitive sign I could use dark type energy.
The problem would be figuring out how. Or even deciding if I wanted to. Using it probably meant fighting, and I didn’t really want to do that, did I?
My musings were interrupted as the door suddenly flung open. Everyone looked over to find a heavily bandaged Lucario leaning heavily against the door frame, her breathing ragged. The moment she saw me, her entire body sagged, and she would have collapsed if not for a Wigglytuff grabbing hold of her and keeping her up. “I told you not to run off,” she scolded.
Cara was still staring at me and I gave her a bit of a smile. “Well, you look a lot worse than me,” I quipped.
She scoffed, stumbling a bit as she was helped over to the bed, completely collapsing face first onto it the moment she could. Her entire body seemed to go limp, clearly having used all of her energy just to get here.
“Severe energy depletion,” Wigglytuff started her explanation. “She burned every bit of energy she had and overtaxed her energy channels at the same time. And that was before even being hit by the Hyper Beam.”
From the explanation I could assume that Cara had burned all of her energy to get in front of the attack. Which meant it hit her dead on without any natural energy to protect herself. “I see…”
“We’re lucky she survived,” Wigglytuff said bluntly. “If she remained out of stasis for an hour or two, she probably would have died from her injuries.”
My brow furrowed and I frowned. “Is… Is it okay for her to be up and about?”
“No,” she responded bluntly, scowling at the Lucario lying beside me. “It isn’t. She was told you were alright, and to remain in the recovery room, but she bolted the moment Nurse Joy was out of sight. She would have kept barging into random rooms if I hadn’t told her which one you were in,” she explained, clearly exasperated.
I chuckled a bit, which I regretted as it caused a jolt of pain. “I see. I’m sorry for the trouble.”
Wigglytuff sighed. “It will take three months for her to recover, and it is recommended that that time be spent outside of a pokeball to speed up the healing process.”
My eyes widened a bit as I stared at the Wigglytuff. “That…that long?”
“She nearly died. That bastard Wulfric nearly killed her.” Her fists clenched, clearly just as upset over his actions as I was. “I am so sick and tired of seeing half dead Pokemon come down from that horrible place.”
I reached out, wincing slightly as I placed a hand onto her shoulder.
She took a few deep breaths. “I’m sorry. That was unprofessional.”
“It’s okay,” I said softly, rubbing her shoulder a bit. “I can only imagine how hard that is.”
She took in a couple deep breaths, rubbing at her eyes to chase away tears before steeling herself, and glaring at Cara. “Make sure she does nothing strenuous for the next three months. That means she does nothing. No battling, no training, no using energy of any sort. If she does anything more than go for a walk, she’ll spend her time recovering strapped to a bed.”
“Yes ma’am,” I said, smiling.
With a huff, she left. It looked like she wanted to slam the door but restrained herself.
It was silent for a few moments as I looked at the door, then at Cara. She was shaking slightly, and I realized she was crying, not even caring that others were around. “Oh you…” I said softly, shifting a bit to pull her into a hug. Immediately I noticed there was something different. I didn’t feel the usual prick of her chest spike.
She took quite a while to calm down, as I held her and whispered words of comfort. She didn’t even have the strength to try and hug me back, just putting her paws against me. Eventually I got her to move a bit so I could get a good look at her. As I sat up, which was quite a struggle considering the massive seal on my leg and Scoly still trying to shove me off the bed, I coaxed Cara to lay on her back. The first thing I took notice of was that the tip of her chest spike was gone, and there was a large crack running across the side.
I checked the ones on her paws next. Her right was fine, but her left paw shook uncontrollably when I lifted it. The spike on the back of her paw was gone, replaced by tight bandages. Gently, I rubbed the side of her paw, staring at the spot the spike had been. “They’ll grow back,” she said, her voice hoarse. Talking was clearly a struggle. “In a year or two…”
Words completely failed me, so I just continued to gently rub her paw with my thumb. She looked so tired, just laying there. The only movement she made was the slow rise of her chest, and the trembling of her paw. Half of her face was nothing but bandages, and the eye I could see was barely open. All of her energy was just… gone.
“This is the second time you’ve saved my life,” I whispered, smiling down at her. Even while my eyes burned, and I could feel tears sliding down my face, I was just so glad to see her. It was really hitting me now that I nearly lost my best friend.
“Are we keeping count?” she managed. “Because if we are… I think it’s more like six…”
“You’re exaggerating,” I said, laughing softly. Her eye closed for a moment before she forced it open, clearly trying to keep herself away. “Go ahead and sleep. I’m alright, and I’ll be here when you wake up.”
She huffed softly, but eventually her eyes closed. Within seconds her breathing evened out and the small amount of tension she had seemed to leave her. I made sure that she was comfortable before rubbing at my face to try and get rid of the tears.
I didn’t feel like laying down again, and it wasn’t much longer before the door opened. Cara tensed, her eyes snapping open. It looked like she tried to move, but her entire body locked up and refused. I put my hand onto her shoulder, partially to keep her down and assure her that things are fine.
Rio was the one who opened the door, her arm was in a cast and immobilized against her chest. “Mamma!” She practically shot across the room to Cara’s side. Her paw hovered, shifting in an unsure manner, as if she didn’t know what to do with it.
“I’m fine,” Cara said in the type of voice that definitely did not belong to someone who is fine.
She started to tear up before she laid her head down onto her stomach, closing her eyes. “I’m so glad…” she mumbled. I can only imagine what the events must have looked like through aura.
Dee came in just behind with a tray that had three pokeballs on it, and Eevee sitting on top of her head. She closed the door with a sigh. “Keo is fine, just asleep in her pokeball,” Dee started. “Rio tore almost every muscle in her arm, and snapped a tendon. She needs a week to recover fully.”
Eevee leapt at me and I had to catch her because she did not get enough distance and nearly landed on the two Lucario. I chuckled a bit as I looked at Rio, watching as she was pressing her face into Cara’s stomach. “What even was that, Rio?”
She shifted her head a bit to look at me, taking a deep breath. “Iron Cannon. It’s a move I’ve been working on. It mixes Flash Cannon with Bulk up and Focus Punch. I’ve never managed to do it right… I still didn’t do it right…”
I nodded slightly. That explained a lot about the move. The way her arm swelled, and the way it seemed to need to be charged. It was like a much stronger Flash Cannon. Bulk Up and Focus Punch turned the normally special based move into a physical one, as she just punched the air so hard she hit things at a distance. It was an interesting concept, but definitely needed refining.
“You probably charged it for too long, or because you fired it point blank,” I mused, thinking about the move as I gently pet Eevee. The other possibility was her lack of control over her fighting energy. “We can try and practice it when you’re better.”
She nodded, closing her eyes. I turned my attention to Dee as she sat down on the bed, rubbing her face. She caught my eye and I gestured at Eevee questioningly. “Eevee is fine. It looks like she tried to do a move, but her energy channels aren’t in a state to be able to properly do that so she exhausted what little energy she had. And she got hit by a rock or something.”
“Oh?” I looked down at Eevee, who was already asleep on my lap, nestled beside Primarina’s head. I wondered what she tried to do when the door was suddenly kicked open. Everyone asleep jolted awake and all eyes turned towards the door.
In the doorway, standing with her hands on her hips and a look of relief on her face, was Diantha. “Good. You’re okay.”
“Mostly,” I said, comforting Eevee and Primarina.
“That was a hell of a match,” she said as she entered the room, a tablet in her hand. She kicked the door closed behind her as if annoyed it existed. “Wulfric has been suspended from his Gym Leader duties, without pay, and his Pokemon confiscated pending completion of the investigation.”
I blinked at her, trying to sort the information she just gave me. “You’ve seen the match?” I wasn’t sure why that was that part that stuck out the most to me.
“Most of the League has at this point.” She flopped down beside me on the bed, showing me the screen of the tablet. It was paused just before the Abomasnow used Hyper Beam. She looked at me, her expression turning into a frown. “I’ve been ordered by the Association and the League to confiscate your Pokemon,” she said, suddenly sounding quite serious.
Everyone tensed, and I stared at her, trying to think of something. But my mind was blank.
She snorted. “Like I actually would. Or could. Technically all the Pokemon in your little wolf pack are classified as belonging to you until the reserve opens. And everyone with a brain who’s seen the video knows you did nothing wrong. Real nice shot, by the way,” she added, suddenly fast forwarding to the moment where I punched Wulfric and let it play.
It really was a good punch. My form was good, and I’d thrown my entire weight into the hook. I actually knocked him clean off his feet and he was completely airborne for a second before crashing into the ground.
“How come you never told me you were a Hex Maniac?” she suddenly asks, pausing the video again.
I stared at her, my brow furrowing. That was a type of Trainer from the game. What was she talking about? “I’m… not?”
She gave me an odd look, before playing the video again. On the screen I was towering over him, my foot pinning Wulfric to the ground. I was hunched slightly, one arm hanging limply, dripping blood, the other stretched to the side. Hearing my own words caused the hairs on the back of my neck to raise. “You want me to treat this like war?” the me on the screen growled. Actually growled, although it sounded more like it was distorted due to them having amplified the audio to be able to pick up what I was saying. “You want me to treat you like an enemy?”
She paused it again. “That. That’s Hex Magic, isn’t it?” She had zoomed in slightly to better frame my figure. My fingers were splayed and there were quite obviously large claws made of solid shadow extending from my hand. That was without a doubt Shadow Claw. I hadn’t imagined the sensation. I had actually been using the move. I had somehow been using ghost type energy. And for some reason my eyes were glowing slightly? No wonder Wulfric looked terrified. Was that from channeling energy? Or was I using whatever Hex Magic was?
“I don’t know what that is,” I said, trying to keep a rising nervous feeling out of my chest. There was a nagging feeling in my mind that this being recorded was bad, but I couldn’t quite think of why.
“Huh…” She tilted her head to the side slightly, studying the image on the screen. Eventually she shrugged. “Well, it looks like Hex Magic. But those Hex Maniac’s are reclusive, so I guess it’s no wonder you never mentioned it.”
“I am not a Hex Maniac,” I deadpanned.
She giggled. “Alright. Sure. But anyways… Yeah, the League and Association want me to confiscate your Pokemon until the investigation is over, but you don’t have to worry. I’m not going to. So if anyone asks, we never met.”
I let out a slow breath. “Thanks, I guess.”
“I honestly don’t know what they even expect me to do,” she started to complain. “You’ve got a literal hoard of Pokemon. Like, what, thirty or forty-ish Pokemon? Champion or not, all it takes is you resisting, and just a single one of them getting to me in the chaos and I’m toast.”
A chuckle escaped me. She really had a point. But before I responded I paused for a moment, looking at the tablet. “Can I see that?”
“Hm?” She looked at the tablet. “Oh, sure.” She passed it to me.
I rewound the video to before the Hyper Beam and watched it, but there was just too much going on all at once. Interestingly, when I watched it play out I found out that the referee wasn’t calling the match or asking me for my next Pokemon, he was asking if I was okay to continue. Still not very kind of him. He should have immediately called an end to the match, but at least he wasn’t completely brushing off what just happened. But fuck... watching Cara topple forward and hit the floor was the worst thing I'd ever seen. And the way I croaked out her name... Desperate for a response.
“Is it possible to slow down the playback?” I asked Diantha.
“Ah, here.” She pressed on a few buttons on the side. “There. It can’t go slower than quarter speed, but these control that,” she gestured at the buttons.
I nodded slowly as I hit play. Watching it all again in slow motion made it look so much more horrifying. The mouth movements of Wulfric as he ordered his Pokemon. The slow turn of the Abomasnow. Cara’s calm expression melting into panic as she realizes what’s happening. A burst of white as she uses Extreme Speed as the Hyper Beam fires. It takes her a single frame to clear most of the field, throwing herself in front of the beam. It wasn’t a direct hit. She had undershot by inches, and the beam struck more on her left side. That explains why that side was so much more damaged.
Then there was me, the agonizingly slow way that I lifted my arms in a futile attempt to block the blow, or at least protect my chest and face from it. A little brown smudge leaping forward and bursting with a dim light of energy that quickly formed into a sort of mostly translucent teal colored bubble surrounding her. That answered the question of what Eevee had done. She tried to use Protect. The shield shattered instantly from the blast as if it was never there.
Watching myself hit the wall, followed by Eevee hitting me, and both of us bouncing off and hitting the floor, made me grateful I couldn’t hear whatever noise the impact had made. The way the little fox staggered to her feet, struggling to get to me and begin pushing at my face with her paws.
I sighed as I looked at the little Pokemon in my lap. I gently rubbed the area behind her ears. That was her favorite spot, and she made happy little noises as she pressed her head into my hand.
“Arceus that was brutal,” Diantha muttered. She had remained quiet as I watched, rewinding and rewatching the events several times. Rio, Scoly, Dee, and even Diancie had also moved to watch, Rio grabbing hold of the sleeve of my shirt. I felt her grip tighten every time that the Hyper Beam hit her mother, and I could distinctly feel that flicker of rage that she had previously. “I can’t believe he did that…”
“He’s friends with Aymond,” I said, frowning.
She sighed. “That doesn’t surprise me… All those old Gym Leaders are friends.” She took the tablet from me, fast forward and then replaying the moment that I socked Wulfric. “This is my favorite part. I’m going to watch this a lot.”
“Don’t like Wulfric?” I asked with a bit of a laugh.
“No. Hate the dude. He didn’t Mega Hyper Beam me, but I still remember getting clipped by that damn Aurora Beam when I was doing my circuit,” she said with a sigh, rubbing her arm.
“You mean he’s been attacking Trainers in all of his battles?” I couldn’t believe that he had gotten away with it for so long.
“They’ve always been classified as accidents.” She folded her arms across her chest, letting out a huff. “This is the first time - that we know of - that he’s been this blatant.” She played the scene a few more times as I thought. I wondered why he was so eager to try and kill me? Was he part of Team Flare? That was the first thing that came to mind.
“Where’s Wulfric now?”
She looked at me, a bit confused. “On his way to Lumiose. He’s been arrested until the investigation is over.” She paused. “Although, their first stop is probably the hospital,” she added with a giggle.
I tilted my head slightly. “Why would he need to go to the hospital?”
She stared blankly at me before she played the Sucker Punch again. “He lost three teeth and you broke his cheek bone."
My eyes widened a bit and I blinked. “Oh. I guess that was a really, really good hit.”
She laughed. “It was!” She played the scene again, taking an odd sort of sadistic glee from watching the man get socked in the face and crumple. She let the video play, listening to me shout about how Pokemon battles are just a sport. And then the growling threats. “Remind me never to piss you off… Damn. You look like you're about to kill him.”
“I considered it,” I admitted.
There were a few moments of silence, even all the Pokemon stared at me. Diancie looked offended, since I had told her she couldn’t kill him. “I don't think many would have blamed you,” Diantha said with a shrug.
I nodded a bit. “How do you think the investigation-” my phone ringing interrupted me. I looked at it for a moment, noting that it was Valerie. I should have expected her to call. “Hey, Valerie-”
“Are you okay?” she interrupted. “How’s Cara?” She was clearly very concerned, holding the phone close to her face in order to get a better look at me.
“I’m fine. Cara is… breathing.” I could see the way she tensed, and so did Diantha, the latter's eyes dropping to the bandaged Pokemon laying beside me. “She’ll recover, but she’s benched for a few months.”
Valerie sighed. “Damn… Okay. At least she’ll be okay…”
I nodded. “You’ve seen the video, I take it?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Diantha sent it to me a little bit ago.”
“Which I’m technically not allowed to do?” Diantha commented in a noncommittal way.
Again Valerie seemed to tense. “Diantha? What are you doing there?”
“Aren’t you supposed to pretend you never found me?” I said, staring blankly at Diantha.
“Oh, shit. Right.” Diantha leaned in a bit to see the screen, and I had to tilt the phone slightly so the video would pick her up. "Val, if anyone asks, you never saw us together.”
“Why are you there?” Valerie asked again with a bit of a huff.
“I was ordered to confiscate all of Jace’s Pokemon after taking Wulfric into custody,” she explained with a shrug. “But that would be impossible. Especially considering those dogs don’t like me…”
“You make them nervous,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “They know how strong you are and they’re worried you’ll hurt them.”
She gasped dramatically. “I would never! They’re just all a bunch of cute dogs. Honestly, it makes me sad they’re scared of me.”
“They’ll warm up to you if you spend more time with them,” I suggested.
Diantha just sighed and shook her head. “I’m too busy. And speaking of which…” She stood up, smoothing out her clothes. “I better go and pretend to look for you.”
Both Valerie and I laughed a bit. “Thanks,” I said.
“Don’t mention it.” She pointed a finger at me, a smirk on her face. “Seriously, don’t. The League is already upset with me as it is.”
My brow furrowed. “Why?”
She made her way to the door, waving a hand dismissively. “I’ll explain it later if I get the chance.”
And then she left.
I stared at the door for a moment, puzzling over what that could be about, when Valerie suddenly spoke up. “Is she gone?”
My attention turned back to the phone and I arched an eyebrow. “Yes?”
Valerie sighed. “Okay. I uh… I made a mistake, and I didn’t want her over hearing because I knew she would tease me. And she teases me a ton already, and so I didn’t want to give her more ammunition,” she rapidly explains, words tumbling out to the point I almost couldn’t understand her.
“Alright,” I said slowly, staring at her. She seemed to be looking anywhere but at the phone.
“You uh… remember how you told me not to tell Malva about the wolf pack?” she asked hesitantly.
I frowned. “Yes. I do in fact remember asking you not to tell her.”
“Uh…well… I... may have sort of slipped and mentioned it,” she said, very clearly looking away. “And I didn’t even really think about it at the time, cus you see we were having such a lovely time, and we were talking about Pokemon, and she mentioned how much she wanted a Houndour, and I-”
“Breathe, Valerie,” I said, interrupting her. “Okay. I get it. It’s alright. I can-” a thought suddenly popped into my head, and I began scheming. “Actually. Are you two going on a date for New Years?”
Her brow furrowed and then she nodded. “Yes?”
I nodded a bit. “Invite her to meet the wolf pack on New Year's Eve night.”
Her brow furrowed, her head tilting to the side. “Are you sure that’s okay?”
Again I nodded. “Yeah. That will actually work out perfectly. Since, you know, the construction has started and all? Would be a good time to start thinking about publicity.” I really hated lying to Valerie like this, but hopefully she would understand. Well, technically I wasn’t lying I was just not telling her everything. If everything worked out well, Malva would be great for getting the word out.
“Okay, that sounds great. Although, you’ll have to be there so they don’t freak out,” she said thoughtfully. “A lot of them are still nervous around me.”
“Yeah I was going to suggest that. Sometime around eight. I'll make dinner for them all - and you two - so that they're calm. Don’t want them attacking your girlfriend,” I teased a bit with a smirk.
Her face went bright red and she disconnected the call. I couldn’t help but laugh as I settled back into the bed. I wasn’t sure when Dee had moved behind me, but she had moved into the position she normally stayed in when we slept.
It was several minutes before I spoke. “Do you think I made a mistake? Using Valerie like that?” I asked, not to anyone in specific, but I wanted to get their opinions. This is why I hate scheming. I didn’t like manipulating people.
“We have to,” Scoly said, surprising me a bit. I looked at her, her eyes were unfocused. “We have to make sure they can’t hurt anyone else.”
I really hated the ‘For the Greater Good’ mentality, but I just had to hope that Valerie wouldn’t be too upset with me for planning things like this.
An hour passed before my phone rang again. Looking at it, I frowned. It was Professor Sycamore. I answered it, wondering what he wanted to talk about. “Hello, Professor. What’s up?”
“Hello, Jason,” he said, scrutinizing my appearance for a moment before continuing, “Are you alright?”
“A bit banged up, but I’ll be fine,” I responded a bit dryly, trying to remain polite.
“Right. Well, anyways, I wanted to call and let you know that I finally got my hands on some Lucarionite for you,” he said as he held up what looked to be a large orange marble, with a blue and red cats-eye in it.
“Oh!“ I sat up a bit straighter. “Huh, I guess I totally forgot you were keeping an eye out for one.”
He nodded. “Yeah. Just got it, so feel free to drop by the lab when you’re…” it looked like he was trying to figure out the right word. “Whenever you want,” he decided.
“I’ll swing by tomorrow. I need to get out of Snowbelle… Too damn cold,” I said with a bit of a laugh.
He chuckled a bit, nodding. “Your fault for going there in winter,” he snarked. “Anyways, I’m here all day, so drop by anytime.”
“Thank you, Professor,” I said with a genuine smile.
He nodded before hanging up.
“How ironic,” I mumbled as I laid back against Dee. “The moment the Lucario’s are out of action, I get some Lucarionite.”
~
Cara was an absolute grump in the morning. She was tired. Moving hurt. Being awake hurt. And she was constantly grumbling. A big part of the problem was the cold. It was so cold and it made all the pain worse.
Putting my puffy coat around her seemed to be enough to at least take some of the edge off. Although it meant I was absolutely miserable on my way to the train station.
We were both just standing there, shivering in the snow as we waited for the train. “I don’t think I ever want to come back to Snowbelle,” I grumbled.
“Agreed,” Cara mumbled, her voice still rough.
We were waiting for a few minutes when I suddenly got a notification on my phone. Pulling it out, it was from Emma. I hurried to open it, but was disappointed. ‘Hello Jason, it’s Kaitline. Some people showed up looking for you, claiming to be from the Association. They were trying to find some way to contact you, and asking if I knew where you were, but they were hella shady so I told them I didn’t know who you were.’
I frowned a bit. It probably really was the Association. But them not having a way to contact me was interesting… That explains why I hadn’t heard from them. ‘Thanks for letting me know. Are you okay? How’s Emma?’
‘I’m okay.’ Came her reply. ‘They left after I said I didn’t know. Emma is okay, but still in a coma.’
I sighed, and ran my hand over my head, trying to think. “Fuck…”
Cara looked over at me, having to turn her head more than usual in order to actually see me with her good eye.
“Nothing… I just-” I stopped, looking around. There were a few people around, but I had an idea. A very stupid idea. “Mewtwo!” I shouted, a couple people turning to look at me with either curiosity or annoyance.
I was starting to feel silly until all of the snow around me suddenly evaporated, and the tall feline Pokemon was standing before me. “Yes?” they said, their head tilting to the side slightly.
I couldn’t believe that actually worked. “Like I thought, you are watching me.”
“I put a psychic marker on you,” they explained simply, as if that explained everything. It probably did, if I knew what the heck that even was.
There was no way I was going to argue with them about that, or ask why. “Everyone you altered the memory of is in a coma. Do you know why?”
They were silent, staring at me. It took several moments for them to say anything. “Oh.” Their face turned a bit red. “Oops.”
And then they were gone.
I let out a long sigh, rubbing my face. “Okay, at least it wasn’t on purpose,” I grumbled, shoving my hands into my pockets. Glancing around, I noticed a few people had cameras of all things, while many others were talking on their phones. That’s going to be a problem for future me.
The train pulled up about fifteen minutes after Mewtwo left, and numerous people stepped off, all of them commenting about the lack of snow around the station. As I boarded, I had to help Cara step up. She couldn’t do stairs. Honestly I had practically carried her just to get to the station. I took the nearest empty seat, making sure Cara wasn’t about to fall over. She complained at me that I was babying her, but I just chuckled at her.
A lot of people gave me strange looks as they boarded, but no one said anything. I settled in beside Cara, and she shifted a bit so that she could lean against me before she promptly fell asleep. I watched her for a moment until her breathing evened out and she lost the tension in her body. She was always so tense when she was awake.
Sometime during the ride my phone rang and I pulled it out, glancing at who was calling before answering it. “What’s up, Adria?”
“What the hell did you just do?” came the exasperated voice of the tired looking Jenny.
I hesitated. “You’ll have to be more specific,” I said cautiously.
“That Mewtwo just showed up at the hospital in Lumiose, and practically ripped it apart before disappearing.” It looked like she was in the police station, but I didn’t know which one.
“Why would you-”
“And then I immediately get a report that you were seen speaking to it just before.” She was glaring at me.
“Oh, so that’s how you knew it was my fault,” I said, nodding. “Well, you see, Emma and all the others are in a coma, right?”
She sighed heavily and the phone clattered to the table, and now all I could see was the ceiling. “And so you asked it to fix them?”
“No,” I explained slowly. “I brought it up, and they said, and I quote: ‘Oops.’”
There were several seconds of silence before she picked the phone back up. “It said ‘oops’?” She asked, trying to confirm.
I nodded.
She let out a long, drawn out sigh and groan combo that made me have to scrunch up my mouth to keep myself from smiling at. Then she disappeared from view, and I heard the very distinct noise of a head hitting a desk. “Okay, but did it have to blow up part of the hospital?”
I made a bit of a thoughtful noise, “Mmm… They are rather… uhm… Naive.”
The phone moved down so that she could glare at me without lifting her head off of the table. “Naive?”
“Yes,” I said with a nod. “I don’t think that ex-Director Yellow taught them much of anything since they were created. I ran into them in the forest - or I should say they found me - and Cara had to explain to them the basics of how to survive.”
“Okay, and how did it find you?” she said with another heavy sigh.
“Something about a psychic marker?” I began to explain. “I’m not sure what that is, but they seem to be aware of my location and if I want to talk with them, or something? All I did was call out to them and they appeared. I was going to ask Olympia about it.”
Adria buried her face in the crook of her arm. “Dammit… But did it have to blow up part of the hospital?”
“They were probably just taking the most direct route. They really don't understand things,” I tried to explain. “They are… Hm… I guess it would be accurate to say that they are a child who had never seen the outside world, given the power of gods, and then suddenly thrown out into said world.”
She groaned, trying to bury her face even more, as if that would drown out the reality. “Can you teach it?”
I shrugged. “Maybe? They seem pretty open to talking with me, but I can’t really promise anything.” I could feel the annoyance rising as she readied a reply, but I added, “But I’ll try.”
“Alright,” she grumbled. “Oh, also. Why are Association officials looking for you?” Her eyes narrowed at me.
“I punched Wulfric because he tried to kill me,” I said simply.
She just stared at me, mouth slightly agape and moving slightly as if trying to form words.
“You can ask Valerie to show you the video, she should still have it I think.” I realized I should have asked Diantha for the video, but I just made a mental note to get it from her or Valerie later.
She just glared at me for a moment before hanging up.
I let out a snort, and then settled into my seat. It was a long ride to Lumiose after all.
But it wasn’t even an hour later when my phone rang again. “Hello, Adria.”
“Holy shit you weren’t kidding,” she said softly. “He tried to kill you.” She was holding the phone at a weird angle, clearly not actually holding it up, but from what I could tell she was sitting against a wall.
“Yeah, he did.”
There were a few moments of silence before she let out a sigh. “Well that explains a lot… are you okay?”
“Mostly,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “Better shape than him. Though the stitches itch.”
She was silent again and I could see a slight frown on her face, although I couldn’t really see much of her expression. “They ordered us to put out a bulletin to detain you on sight. They claimed you aren’t in trouble, but this is…”
“Man they’re really going after me for some reason,” I said with even more of a laugh. “I guess they realized that no one has been keeping an eye on me.”
The phone suddenly moved and I could see her expression. She looked baffled for a moment, and then suddenly her eyes widened. “Wait. Emma is - no wait was - in a coma, so no one’s been keeping track of you.”
“Emma is awake?” I asked, immediately shifting the conversation onto something more important.
“Oh, yeah. Uh… So Mewtwo came in, started knocking down doors and flinging guards, and when it got to where the coma patients were it just sort of…” She waved a hand vaguely in the air. “Stood there for a moment? And then teleported away, and everyone started waking up.”
I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. “There must have been too much lingering psychic energy in their system, and because they’re not Psychics it caused their body to shut down. Mewtwo probably removed it,” I explained, my strange knowledge ability giving me the answer much to my surprise.
She stared at me. “If you knew what the problem was, why didn’t you tell anyone!” she said exasperatedly.
“Hey, I just figured it out,” I defended. “I only found out they were in a coma last week, and put the pieces together thanks to Mewtwo.”
Adria paused, opening her mouth to say something before closing it. She nodded slowly. “Right… Sorry. This has just been… such a headache.”
“I can imagine it’s been a rough day.” I gave her a smile that I hoped came across as comforting. “But thanks for the heads up about the Association. I can guess why they’re so adamant about getting hold of my Pokemon, if the ex-Director is anything to go by.”
There was a big frown on her face and she nodded. “The Chief essentially took their request and binned it immediately after they left.” That got me laughing a bit, and she was quick to join in. “I also showed her the video of your match… I’ve never seen her this pissed. Once Team Flare is dealt with, I’m certain all of her focus is going to be put onto Wulfric. The casualness of how he ordered that definitely means he's used to doing things like that. And while we aren't really allowed to meddle in Association or League problems unless asked, I think she's going to bend the rules here.”
I gave a bit of a shrug, looking around to make sure no one was listening. While our conversation hadn’t been overly loud, I was still worried about people listening in. Thankfully the train was mostly empty, and those aboard were giving me a wide berth for some reason. “Wulfric isn’t really a concern at the moment. I would prefer everyone focus on Team Flare.”
She nodded. “We have everything planned. Just…be sure to be somewhere safe when it starts.”
“Don’t worry,” I said with a smile. “I’ll be in the gym, just like I said I would.”
Her eyes narrowed a bit, but I guess she decided to drop it. “Alright. Stay safe.”
“You too,” I replied and then we hung up.
I looked around again to see if anyone had been listening, but it seems that my worry was unfounded. Cara hadn’t woken up during the phone call, or at least hadn’t moved. She was just leaning against me, the only movement was the slow swelling of her chest as she breathed. Just looking at her started to make my blood boil.
The rest of the train ride was peaceful, and I felt a bit bad having to wake Cara when we arrived in Lumiose. But at least it was much warmer. There was hardly any snow, which was really nice. I slowly helped Cara off of the train, and she huffed in annoyance. “I can walk,” she grumbled.
Despite her words, she had to hold onto me for support as we made our way to Sycamore’s research center. There were a few people who gave us curious looks, which wasn’t surprising considering the state Cara was in. Someone might confuse her with a Dusclops under her large poofy coat.
I had asked if Cara wanted me to get a cab, but she said she wanted to walk. So we walked, with me making sure she stayed upright and every now and then asking if she wanted me to call a cab. Eventually we made it to the lab, the large research building that I still wasn’t sure what to classify as. The receptionist looked up, jumping slightly when she caught sight of us. “Is Professor Sycamore in his office? He should be expecting us.”
The woman just nodded, seemingly unable to form words for whatever reason. So I just nodded and made my way through the building. I’d been in Sycamore’s office before, and it was easy to find. I knocked before opening the door. “Oh, Jason. Good to-” his words seemed to falter.
“Morning, Professor,” I said as I coaxed Cara into the room and onto the couch. When I looked back at Sycamore he was staring at my arm. I looked down at it. It was covered in bandages and there were just a few tatters remaining of the sleeve. There was a bit of blood seeping through, which made me frown. That would explain the stares.
“Are you alright?” he asked tentatively.
A bit of a huff escaped me. I was getting a bit tired of being asked that. “I’m fine,” I said as I stood up straight.
“What happened?” he asked, leaning against his desk.
That was another thing I was starting to get tired of explaining. Or maybe I was just still annoyed at Sycamore. “Short story? Wulfric tried to kill me. Long story? Well, you can watch the video of the match. You can skip the first two rounds.”
The moment I finished speaking he went around his desk and sat down at his computer. “Here’s the Lucarionite,” he said as he gestured to a box on his desk.
I smiled a bit as I walked over, opening the box. Sure enough, there was the orange marble with red and blue cats-eye. “Perfect. Thanks, Professor.”
He just hummed, and I heard the beginning of my match with Wulfric begin before he skipped to when Cara hit the field. I stepped away from the desk, moving more towards Cara. Her eyes were locked on the marble. “That’s…”
I nodded, my smile widening. “This is the Mega Stone for the Lucario line.” I held it up, turning it in my hand as I examined it. It was quite a beautiful thing.
But…
Something felt… off.
I frowned slightly, my eyes narrowing as I examined it. I had only ever held one other Mega Stone, the Diancite that Diancie had. But this… felt too different. I was trying to figure out what this feeling was. “It feels wrong?” I mused as I lifted it up higher, trying to use the light to better look through it.
With a thought, I tried to activate it, doing my best to mimic the sensation I felt when Diancie activated her stone and just pushing a tiny bit of energy from my Key Stone towards it. Just to test what sort of reaction I would get.
“Do it,” came Wulfric’s voice from the computer and I felt the heat from the explosion. No, not that explosion. I coughed, trying to get up and figure out what happened, waving my hand in the air to clear the smoke. My empty hand. The Mega Stone had exploded.
“What the hell?!” I shouted, coughing to try and breathe properly. My hand stung, but it looked to be fine. Cara was struggling, trying to get up to get to me. “I’m fine,” I quickly assured, reaching into my coat and pulling out Dee’s ball.
I glanced over at Sycamore, who was starting to get up, apparently having fallen out of his chair. “What happened?” he asked. “Are you alright?”
Dee appeared in a flash, and I held out my hand to her. She immediately grabbed my wrist and began healing what little injuries my hand had as she pulled me up onto my feet. “I’m okay. The Mega Stone exploded.”
“What?” He was moving around the desk, but his steps faltered when he caught Dee’s glare. He made the wise decision to keep his distance in a situation like this. “That shouldn’t be possible. I’ve never even heard of something like that happening. Sure, sometimes they break, but they never explode.”
My mind raced. Had the Sundial ruined my Key Stone? No, that didn’t make sense. Sure, it altered it, but if it made Mega Stones explode, what would be the point? Suddenly I felt a tightness in my spine and I looked over at Sycamore. “Professor. Where did you get this Mega Stone?”
“Same place as I get most of them?” he said, his tone a bit questioning. “Lysandre Labs. That’s where most people get Mega Stones.”
I let out a slow breath. “Artificial Mega Stone…” I muttered.
Dee pat my hand, letting me know it was fine. “First degree burns, all healed up.”
“Thank you, Dee.” I turned my attention back to the Professor. “I think that was an artificial stone.”
He frowned. “That wouldn’t make any sense. I’ve never had any problem with any of the other stones that I’ve gotten from Lysandre.”
“My Key Stone has been upgraded,” I said simply.
“What? How?” He suddenly seemed rather excited. “Is this something you did with your other world knowledge?”
“You mean the knowledge you don’t believe?” I snapped, and he froze. “We’ll talk about that later. Right now, this is much more important. You got that artificial Mega Stone from Lysandre?”
He nodded. “Yeah. After we talked last time, I called him. I had to be sure, and of course he said he didn’t know anything about some sort of Ultimate Weapon.”
My hand immediately slapped into my forehead. “Damn it, Sycamore,” I grumbled as I dragged my hand down my face. “No wonder the base was empty. You warned him he’d been caught.”
“What? No. It-” he paused, as if recalling the conversation. “It really didn’t seem like he knew what I was talking about.”
“Sure, like I’m going to believe that the leader of Team Flare doesn’t know about a secret weapon in one of his own bases,” I grumbled as I rubbed at my face.
“He’s not the only leader,” Sycamore tried to argue. “Xerosic is one of the co-leaders.”
“Sycamore-” I stopped when I looked at him, and I realized something absolutely annoying. “You’re just defending him because Lysandre Labs supplies you with Mega Stones.”
“That is slander,” he snapped, standing up straighter.
“It’s only slander if it’s not true. Damn it…” I rubbed at my face again. “Dee, help Cara up. We’re leaving.”
“Wait, you can’t just leave,” Sycamore started, clearly wanting me to stay. But he seemed to hesitate as if trying to find an excuse. “You have to tell me how you upgraded the Key Stone.”
I saw the way his eyes flicked to something over my shoulder and I glanced back to see a clock. The time? Why was he- “You piece of shit. You contacted someone and told them I was here. You lured me here with a faulty artificial Mega Stone. Who is it? Huh? The Association? Or is it Team Flare?"
“Jason, there are protocols for things,” he said firmly, putting his hands up. “The Association is running an investigation and just wants your cooperation.”
“There isn’t anything to investigate,” I snapped. “Wulfric blatantly tried to kill me. There’s a video of it. And witnesses.” I could feel my blood boiling again, and I was struggling to stay calm. “If you can stand there, look me dead in the eye, and tell me that I did anything wrong, you can go fuck yourself, Augustine.”
He was stunned. Clearly the pretty-boy Professor had no idea how to handle this situation, so I took advantage of his stupor and made a quick exit from the room.
Just before closing the door, I left some parting words. “As far as I’m concerned, the only thing I did wrong was put my trust in the system the Association and League have made.” Dee was practically carrying Cara as we made our way down the halls. Not towards the main entrance, but to a side door that I had seen once. I felt like a beaten dog that had shaken free of the rope tying him down. No way I was going to let the Association put it back on. The fact they had seen the video and still tried to take my Pokemon was a blatant sign they could still not be trusted.
I almost thought I had gotten lost in the massive building until I found the door I was looking for. Shoving the door open revealed a small balcony, with stairs leading down. This was where Sycamore often answered my calls when he wasn’t in his office or in a lab.
We started to quickly make our way down the stairs and I immediately hailed a cab. It took a moment before one actually stopped. “Where to, boss?” His eyes went from me, to Cara who Dee was helping into the back. “Pokecenter or Hospital?”
I shook my head. “Police Station,” I replied as I returned Dee and got in beside Cara.
“In a hurry?” he asked as he pulled away, driving quite a bit fast.
A soft laugh escaped me. “Nah, the desperate escape already happened. Now it’s just a matter of getting somewhere safe,” I joked, trying to keep my tone jovial despite the panic that I was feeling.
Thankfully the man laughed, clearly taking what I said as a joke. “Aight. Next stop, Lumiose Police Station.”
I slumped into the back seat, running through everything that just happened. Sycamore sold me out to the Association, no big surprise there, they were his employers after all and the main source of his income.
He told Lysandre.
Damn it he told Lysandre.
How many would have been arrested if he hadn’t? Would Lysandre have been caught then and there? That would have solved so many problems. Or at least made life hell for Lysandre for a while.
Lysandre was the source of the artificial Mega Stone. That probably meant that the device used on that Zweilous to force its evolution into Hydreigon probably came from Lysandre Labs. I had suspected that, but this was more evidence pointing towards them.
This was so annoying. So many problems and questions. Had the device not actually been stolen, and he actually returned it to Lysandre? Was Sycamore part of Team Flare?
The thought caused my entire train of thought to come to a halt. He couldn’t be, right? He and Lysandre were old friends. But that was just more evidence that he could be. Maybe not entirely, but he was on Team Flare’s side, or at least on Lysandre’s side. Did that mean the Association was also part of Team Flare?
I tensed when I felt something on my hand and looked down. Cara had grabbed it. “Your aura is fluctuating in a bad way,” she said softly.
“Ah…” I sighed softly before taking several deep breaths to try and calm myself down. It wasn’t my problem anymore, was it? I had done all I could and was then told to sit back. A smile formed on my face as I felt the little paw pads on Cara’s hand rub the back of my fingers. “Sorry… Just worrying about things.”
She nodded and I tried not to think about all what was happening and just calm down. After a while, Cara spoke up. “What are we going to do about the stone?” she asked softly, and I could hear how downtrodden she was.
I looked at her for a moment and then sighed. “We go with plan B.”
She turned her head to look at me, tilting it to the side in a questioning manner.
“What? You didn’t think Sycamore was our only option did you?” I said with a smile. “He was just the easiest and most straightforward.”
A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth that wasn’t covered in bandages. “So… there’s still hope?”
A bit of a scoff escaped me. “Of course there is.” I grabbed and squeezed her hand slightly, giving her a smile.
It was silent again, until we pulled in front of the Police Station. “Aight, boss. Here we are.”
“Thanks.” I pulled out my trainer card, swiping it through the little machine in the chair. It was nice that they had convenient little things like that. I then helped Cara out of the car. A few Officer Jenny’s immediately rushed to help me. “Is Adria here? Or can I talk with Chief Cassandra?”
They all seemed to pause, until one of the Jenny’s nodded and ran off. “You’re Jason, right?” one of the Jenny’s asked.
I nodded. “Yeah that’s me.”
The next few minutes were a flurry of movement. Honestly I wasn’t entirely sure what happened, but I soon found myself in a nice office, not Cassandra’s but it was nice, with a mug of coffee. I had mostly just taken the cup to be polite, but now that I was actually smelling the coffee I was very tempted. Mostly I was just using it to warm my hands, which I hadn’t realized were so cold until I took the cup.
They had left me and Cara alone, and Cara was slumped in the couch beside me, her head tucked into my side as she tried to sleep again. I really shouldn’t have dragged her around like this, but I wanted to see her excitement when we got the Lucarionite. And instead it was all just a bunch of disappointment.
When the door opened, it was Adria standing there, her shoulders stiff and concern written all over her face. “I’m fine,” I said immediately, putting up a hand. “Just… I wasn't sure where else to go.”
She closed the door, and took a seat across from me as I put both hands back onto the mug of coffee. She didn’t say anything, clearly reading that I was trying to figure out how to word what I wanted to say.
In the end I decided to just be blunt. “I think Sycamore is part of Team Flare.” The sudden silence that followed made the room feel extremely tense. “Or at least helping them.”
I remained quiet to let Adria absorb that information. After a few moments she only replied with one word, “Why?”
“Artifical Mega Stones. Lysandre has figured out a way to make them.” I looked down at my hand, flexing my fingers a bit. “I just had one explode on me. I don’t know if it was faulty, designed that way, or incompatible with my upgraded Key Stone…”
She seemed to perk up when I mentioned an upgraded Key Stone, which was understandable because that was pretty big news. But she was professional and stayed on topic. “So he’s taking bribes?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know that wasn’t a natural Mega Stone.”
Her face turned into a scowl, though I knew it wasn’t aimed at me. “That’s why you didn’t want him involved in the Flare Raid?” I had suggested during discussion to keep him out of the loop, as well as a few other people that I was suspicious of.
“I never had concrete evidence. But…” I paused, thinking through how to word what I wanted to say. I should have organized my thoughts more on the ride over than worry about things. “Something felt off. He did a whole lot of things for me, seemingly without wanting anything in return, and then pressured me to join the Association as an Expert. I just wanted to be a Trainer.”
She leaned back a bit, blinking at me. Clearly more caught off guard by that statement than the idea Sycamore might be part of Team Flare. “What?”
I laughed softly, and nodded. “I didn’t have any sort of grandiose plans. I just wanted to explore the world, and make friends with Pokemon.”
“But instead, he went above and beyond to help you so that you would feel indebted to him…” she mumbled.
“And then made becoming an Expert look like my only path,” I finished her thought, nodding. “Come to find out later that I had a few other options, although none of those are as respected or lucrative, none of them would have tied me to the Association.”
Her brow furrows as she nods a bit. “That is suspicious.”
“And now I find out that the reason the Flare base in Geosenge was empty, is because Sycamore ‘accidentally’ let Lysandre know that people had found out about the Ultimate Weapon.” I made exaggerated finger quotes when I said the word accidentally.
She punched the arm of her chair. “Damn it! He’s the reason we practically got nothing?!” she shouted.
Cara jolted awake and tried to get to her feet, but I put an arm around her and held her down. “I don’t know if he did it on purpose, but it’s definitely his fault.”
“Ugh!” She threw her hands up into the air before slumping back into her seat. There was a few seconds of silence. “Wait, when did you find all this out?”
“Just before coming here,” I said with a vague wave of my hand. “I went to him because he said he got me some Lucarionite.” Her eyes flicked to Cara for a moment before returning to me. “It exploded. And I asked him where he got it, and apparently it was from Lysandre Labs. And then I realized that he was trying to keep me at the lab.”
“You think he told Team Flare you were there?” she asks.
I shrugged. “Or the Association. They’re apparently really mad at me for socking Wulfric.”
She scoffed. “It was deserved.” She paused. “So that’s why you came here?”
“It was the safest place I could think of around here. Well, technically my first thought was the Pokecenter, since I know the Joy’s would protect me. But all of you Jenny’s have also been really helpful, and you’re more trained for combat if things turn nasty.”
She seemed to think about what I said for a moment before nodding. “Makes sense. Glad to know the police are high on your list.”
I wobbled my hand a bit in the air. “More-so the Jenny Clan, rather than the police.”
The slight smile on her face had started to turn into a frown. “The Jenny Clan are the police.”
Immediately I put up my hands. “I don’t mean to offend or anything. Just that I trust Jenny’s more than the police.”
She let out a huff as she folded her arms. “Okay, I guess I can accept that.”
There was a moment of silence, before I cleared my throat. “So uh… Can you give me a ride to Valerie’s Gym?”
Chapter 30
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom, battered and out of action
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence, busted arm and out of action
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
Liar - Liepard - Big hungry cat
Bungle - Houndour - Just a little pup
Disaster - Houndoom - Bit of a space case
Immodest - Mightyena - Super serious
Alma - Egg (Fennekin) - Not up to too much yet.
Chapter Text
Pulling up to the Laverre Gym in the back of a police car probably looked concerning to everyone around. Especially when I actually got out. I was starting to think that all of the weird looks I was getting weren’t because of Cara.
Adria beat me to helping Cara out of the car. “You need to take it easy, too,” she said firmly.
I just chuckled a bit, putting up my hands as I took a step back, wincing slightly as the action pulled on some of my stitches. “Alright. Fair.”
Thankfully, as we made our way towards the building I no longer had a limp.
The moment we opened the door, I watched as Allie vaulted over her desk and sprinted across the room towards me. Before I had a chance to even say anything, she grabbed hold of my coat and started dragging me. “Quick, this way. There’s Association people here looking for you.”
I frowned and glanced back at Adria who just sighed and helped Cara to follow after us.
Allie led us through a few doors, noticeably not towards the training rooms. “They’re interrogating Valerie right now.”
“Why?” Adria asked, and I didn’t even have to look at her to know she was frowning.
“Somehow they figured out Jace has been staying here. And-”
“Is the wolf pack alright?” I interrupted. I knew exactly what would happen if a bunch of people they didn’t know came in. Especially when Valerie had no way of controlling them, since I kept all of their pokeballs in my bag. They didn’t trust anyone else having them.
“They’re fine. The Association hasn’t been made aware of them,” Allie assured. “And your other Pokemon are with them.”
Suddenly Adria foisted Cara onto Allie. “I need to leave before they find out I’m here,” she said hurriedly, before turning and running back the way we came.
Allie did her best to support the sudden weight of a Lucario, but thankfully Cara could mostly stand on her own. Though the jostling from the exchange seemed to have disorientated her a bit.
We ducked into a room, which I realized was a similar sort of staging room to the one back in Snowbelle’s Gym but much nicer. Allie carefully helped Cara sit down in a rather plush looking chair, which I immediately noticed the canine sag into with an almost pleased look on her face. Must be a really comfortable chair.
“I’m texting Valerie that I had to step away from the front,” Allie said as she pulled out her phone. “That’s the code we decided on for when you showed up.”
I couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “So you all just…expected to have to hide me from the Association?"
She seemed to pause, glancing at me. “They are treating you with more hostility than they are Wulfric. Delphine said one of her cousins that works in Lumiose overheard what’s going on. He’s apparently living it up in some swanky hospital room. No guards or anything. From what she heard, they’re treating him like he’s the victim. So don’t expect him to get properly punished.”
A frown crept onto my face. “I should have expected that, but it’s still annoying to hear.”
“Even though Diantha confiscated his Pokemon and he got temporarily suspended, it looks like that’s all the punishment he’s going to get,” she said with a huff as she slumped into one of the other seats.
“So why is the Association trying so hard to get their hands on me? It really feels like they’re desperate for some reason. They even roped Sycamore into trying to trap me in his lab,” I said as I leaned against the wall rather than sitting down. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure that’s what happened, but it was the narrative I was rolling with.
“No idea,” she replied, throwing her hands into the air. “Hopefully Valerie can figure it out.”
“They’re picking on her because she’s the newest Gym Leader,” I commented with a frown. “Not just because we’re friends.”
She nodded, clearly pissed. I had learned early on that Allie was extremely protective of Valerie. At first I had thought it was because the girl had a crush on her boss, but it was actually because Allie thought of herself as an older sister. Although I was fairly certain Valerie was older than her.
“I need to get back to the front,” she said as she stood. “Valerie or I will come get you when the coast is clear.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said with a nod.
She hesitated at the door, looking at me for a moment. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
A snort escaped me and I nodded. “I’ve been worse.”
“That’s not reassuring,” she grumbled before the door closed.
I moved over and sat down beside Cara, who I realized had fallen asleep. I looked at her for a moment before settling into the seat, trying to relax.
Eventually, the door opened to reveal Valerie. She sighed when she saw me and then seemed to tense when she got a better look at me. She seemed to struggle to keep from asking the obvious question. “They’re gone,” she said instead.
“Any idea why they’re trying to catch me?” I asked as I stood, moving to help Cara get up. The lupine grumbled at me, clearly annoyed at being woken. Injured Cara was a grumpy Cara.
“I’m not sure, but I heard one of them use the term ‘off leash’ so it’s probably not a good thing,” she said with another sigh. “Mostly they just pestered me with questions about what you were doing here so often, and why you would have such a hostile relationship with Wulfric.”
I helped Cara towards her, wanting to get back to all the other Pokemon. “And? What did you say?”
“I told them you use our training facilities a lot, as my thanks for the Hydreigon incident,” she explained as she helped me with Cara, who was still half asleep. “As for the hostilities… I told them that the only thing I know of is you and my uncle don’t get along, and Wulfric and him are friends.”
I nodded a bit.
“And then they started questioning my gym practices,” she grumbled. “Apparently my uncle already got to them. While on paper that old man lost a lot of pull, he still has a lot of people who owe him favors. I think it’s both him and Wulfric calling in favors to paint you in a bad light.”
“Makes sense,” I said with a sigh.
“From what Diantha told me, the Association is pressuring the League to assist them with this bullshit.” We pushed into the large training room, and all eyes immediately fell on me and Cara.
“Have they seen the video?” I asked and was knocked clean off my feet by two dolls and a cat. I didn’t hit the ground, as Banette managed to catch me before I landed. “Oof.” I winced slightly as she put pressure on some of my bruises.
Banette proceeded to carry us towards the rest area.
“I can walk,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. Essy and Mikyu were clinging to me. Sliggoo hopped up as well, apparently also having charged over, but the other three had beaten her there. I released everyone that I was carrying in pokeballs; Rio and Dee immediately moved to take Cara from Valerie while I put Eevee onto my shoulder. All of the Pokemon seemed amused at my rather hapless situation. Keo wandered away, apparently wanting some alone time. While all of the hostility seemed to be gone from the ice vulpine, she seemed now to just mostly be in a daze and kept quiet. I really needed to talk with her later.
“To answer your question, yes. Everyone’s seen it,” Valerie said as she left the room, closing the door behind her. Everyone in the wolf pack was either crowding around me or Cara, talking and asking if they were okay, or numerous other questions. I was petting and assuring the three on top of me that I was alright.
I glanced at Banette, who was holding me up by a few Shadow Claws. I had no idea she was that strong. She also did not look happy. Her zipper mouth that I thought was permanently stuck in a smile was curved downward into a frown.
Reaching out, I gently placed my hand on top of her head. She looked up at me, and I smiled at her. I still didn’t understand the little doll, but I knew that she was very caring in her own way. Her smile slowly returned and she pressed her head into my hand.
Liar was following from a distance, clearly concerned but feigning nonchalance, while the three dogs were practically running circles around Banette. It was honestly rather endearing to see all the different ways they cared.
When I was finally set down into a chair, a certain Lucario shaped doll was attempting to pull what remained of my coat off of me. I chuckled a bit as I helped her. “Sorry to interrupt your current project, Mikyu, but would you mind fixing my coat?”
She bundled it all up, nodding vigorously. “Of course,” she said, and immediately ran off with it, Banette quickly following after her. They had turned one of the tables into a sort of tent, draping a blanket over it to hide what was underneath. That was something they did in the other training room as well. It honestly looked darker than it should underneath there; light seemed to avoid it. The space was permeated with ghost energy, my knowledge supplied, which meant a powerful ghost type was there. I wondered if it was caused by Mikyu or Banette, or both.
The one who reacted more than I thought they would was Essy. She was being oddly demure, gripping my shirt as she pressed her face against my chest. I knew the little cat wasn’t stupid, just a bit of a bean loving goofball, so it might be really hard for her to see me like this. Sliggoo seemed content to just sit on my lap and cling to me. And around my feet was a sea of canine Pokemon.
Dee suddenly forced her way in. “Let me change your bandages,” she demanded as she gently grabbed my arm.
I huffed a bit but nodded. Blood had seeped through in some places. “Hopefully I didn’t tear any stitches…”
Almost everyone seemed to watch as she carefully unwrapped my arm. As I feared, some of my stitches had torn. Also, dang was my arm covered in bruises. Dee just grumbled a bit as she started to use Heal Pulse, and a lot of the bruising faded. A lot of the more minor cuts also closed and I wondered why we hadn’t just done that earlier.
“Why did I need stitches if you could just do that?” I mused aloud.
“I can only do so much,” she grumbled, which seemed to be true. Sure it made things better, but nothing really went away. I could also see sweat trickling down Dee’s forehead. “You’ve gotten a lot of natural healing, and rested, so it makes healing the rest easier.”
“So my own energy plays a part in how well you can heal me?” I questioned and she nodded. That did explain why it didn’t seem possible to just infinitely heal a Pokemon. I had thought it had something to do with stimulating the regeneration of cells rather than something magical, but now I was realizing that it was so effective because of my internal dark energy. That would explain why Dee could heal me better than any Pokemon could heal other people. Also explained why Rio and Cara were out of commission from overusing energy.
Which brought me to another thought; Hex Maniacs. Diantha had brought them up rather casually, but honestly I hadn’t even realized that they existed, or were an actual thing. Were they people who had dark or ghost type energy? I should probably try and find out.
All of the cuts had scabbed over now, and a lot of the bruising was gone. Dee still insisted on wrapping the arm, just in case, and I didn’t argue.
I spent a few hours assuring the wolf pack and everyone on my team that I was okay. Once they were satisfied that I was telling the truth, most of them dispersed. However, Hate remained at my feet, staring up at me expectantly. I really thought that she was the smartest of all the Pokemon in this room, or at least one of the most observant.
With a sigh I took a deep breath and leaned down towards her. “Do you know who Malva is?” I asked softly.
Her brow furrowed, and she nodded. “She’s an Admin.”
“She’s also an Elite Four member.” I could see the way that Hate’s hackles rose, but she otherwise didn’t react, waiting for me to continue. “Do you think she’s evil?”
She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself. Slowly her mouth closed and she seemed to really think about the problem. It looked like she was really struggling with the question, but eventually - much to my surprise - she shook her head no. “No… I don’t think she is…”
“And why is that?” I prompted, wanting to know how she came to that conclusion.
Her eyes got a sort of faraway look, clearly remembering something. “She used to sneak all of us treats. Little bits of food when we were going through… conditioning, they called it,” she said wistfully. “She wasn’t kind, but it was little things. Extra scraps of food. A smile. Drawing away the attention of the more brutal instructors when they started to go too far…”
“Do you think she can be redeemed?” I asked. While I wanted Malva to be on the right path, I had to admit that I knew almost nothing about her. I’d had my ass handed to me several times now expecting what I knew from the games or anime to hold true, after all. This was something they would need to decide on.
Hate seemed to focus back on me, her head tilting slightly. “Redeemed?” she questioned.
I hesitated a moment, trying to think of how to word it in a way that she would understand. “Do you think… She can be part of the wolf pack?”
She had a contemplative look on her face as she mulled over the question. Again she surprised me with her response. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
A snort escaped me. “Okay. Fair.” I reached out to rub at her head, and she pressed into the contact. Sometimes I was disappointed that Hate didn’t want to come with me, but I understood her reasoning. “Which leads me to my other news. She is going to be here tomorrow.”
Her entire body tensed and she stared at me; I could practically see her pupils dilate. “Here? Why?”
“Because like hell am I going to sit and do nothing while the Flare raid takes place,” I said with a bit of a laugh, rubbing her head more to try and get her to relax. “I have a plan, but things might turn violent. And if they do, I want all of you to be prepared, okay?”
“She…is someone on the same level as Miss Diantha, yes?” she questioned.
“Not quite, but almost,” I said with a bit of a smirk. They usually referred to Diantha quite respectfully, which I always found amusing.
She seemed to think about it for quite some time as I continued to scratch behind her ears. “We will be ready. Numbers will be our strength.”
I nodded and gave her a few pats on the head. “Exactly. She may be strong, but even Diantha said she’s not sure she could take the wolf pack.”
That actually seemed like the right thing to say as she sat up a bit straighter and nodded. “While I hope we do not have to… We shall fight if we must.”
Again I nodded. “I…really hope we don’t have to.”
~
It was just after noon that I approached Keo. She had been keeping her distance from everyone, lost in her own head. Or maybe she was brooding? Hard to tell. But I swore if I didn’t do anything soon she was going to bore a hole through the wall with how hard she was glaring at it.
Sitting next to her, keeping her out of arms reach so that she would feel less threatened, I couldn’t help a grunt as some of my bruises ached. “Feel like I’m getting old again,” I grumbled.
While I was hoping for maybe even a chuff or some sort of noise at my joke, she just looked at me.
Reaching into my bag, I pulled out the ice stone and placed it on the ground between us. “Keo… I am so sorry for what I said,” I began and she just looked at me quizzically. “I messed up.” I licked my lips as I tried to figure out the right order to say things. “Usually I’m a lot better with words, but I was tired, upset, and angry, and… I nearly died. And I took it out on you, which is not fair or right. So I’m sorry.”
She seemed to relax the more I spoke, and only then did I realize how stiff she was. But she didn’t reply.
So I continued, “You weren’t making it easy, but I should have been more patient with you. And I should have never talked about sending you away. You are part of this family, and I am so sorry that I made you feel like you weren’t.”
Her head drooped, and I could see the tears forming in her eyes. “I… I should have just talked with you…” She sniffled. “You’ve been… so kind… and so patient. And I’ve been so damn stubborn. It’s no wonder that I was tossed out."
“Hey, none of that. You didn’t do anything wrong there,” I said softly and held out a hand to her. It was an offer that I wasn’t going to make her take.
Much to my relief, she did, shifting forward to press her head against my hand. I gently rubbed her fluffy head as she moved closer and closer until she had pressed her face into my stomach and began shaking with sobs. Poor little ice princess was such an ugly crier, but I didn’t mind.
It took her a few minutes before she calmed down enough to speak. “So we…both really messed up…”
I smiled as I rubbed her back. “Nothing was done or said that can’t be forgiven.”
She nodded. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
“I’m sorry too,” I replied softly, continuing to gently rub her back.
It took several minutes before she calmed down, and I pulled out a washcloth to clean up her face. She didn’t really complain about it this time, but she huffed a bit of icy breath at me when I was done. And then she sat against me in silence, staring at the stone.
There was clearly quite a lot of hesitation, but this was her choice. She said she wanted this, so I had gotten her what she needed. But even after several minutes, she was still just staring at it, lost in thought. It was almost fifteen minutes before she finally spoke, “Do you…think I’m ready?”
I looked down at her, seeing the apprehensive look on her face. She seemed absolutely lost, so I answered truthfully. “No.”
She fell silent again for a few moments. “Why?” she asked so quietly that I almost couldn’t hear her.
“Do you know what an Alolan Ninetails energy typing is?” I questioned rather than answering her. She looked up at me, finally tearing her eyes away from the ice stone. “It’s ice and fairy. Do you know any fairy moves, Keo?”
She turned away to stare at the ground. “Yes…”
“Do you ever use them?” I pressed.
“No…” she mumbled.
“You are too focused,” I said softly, rubbing her back again. “Your manipulation of ice energy is incredibly impressive, but you’ve thrown away every other thing you could do.”
She just nodded, eyes fixed on the ground.
“It isn’t a bad thing to be focused, and hell you could be brilliant with just ice, but that is limiting your potential, and I think you were doing it for the wrong reasons.” I kept my voice soft as I explained things. “You could use it now, and it would be an incredible spike in your strength, and you would be not only beautiful but powerful.”
“Or?” she questioned softly.
I smiled down at her, but she was still staring at the ground. “Or you could wait. Train other energy types, especially your fairy energy, and get an even bigger boost to your strength.”
“And you’d tell me?” she looked up at me, though it was just out of the corner of her good eye. “When I was ready?”
“Of course,” I said softly as I ran my fingers through the poof of hair on top of her head and she pressed against my hand. “I’m sure you could get to that level in just a few months if you focused.”
I heard a soft ping from my phone, and pulled it out. I had a message from Emma. ‘Jason, I just got home. What’s happening?’
What to tell her? ‘A lot.’ I replied, ‘Glad to see you’re awake.’
‘Thanks. Kaitline is filling me in on a few things.’ There was a few seconds before I got another message, ‘Why is the Association so upset with you?’
‘Watch the battle between me and Wulfric.’ I responded simply.
It was nearly an hour before I got a response. ‘Okay, well, that’s fucked up. Why are they going after you?’
Glad I wasn’t the only one confused about that. ‘No idea.’
‘I’m going to make some calls and try to figure things out.’ And it was about twenty minutes before I got another message. ‘Okay. Do not reply or accept any calls from anyone in the Association.’ A beat. ‘Except me.’ Another message, ‘Please respond to me.’ Followed by another, ‘I’m still trying to figure things out.’
‘Okay, Emma. How are your Pokemon?’ I sent, absentmindedly petting Keo who was still deep in thought.
It was quite a while before I got a response. ‘They’re fine. A bit stir crazy from not being able to see me often, but okay.’ There was a pause. ‘Thanks for helping Kaitline with them.’
‘Of course. So what do you know of the situation?’
‘Not a lot. Wulfric is suspended until next season. Without pay. You’re suspended as well, which I cannot figure out why. And when I asked they said protocol which is complete crap because there is no such protocol.’
It was interesting finding out I was suspended as well. ‘Does that mean I won’t be paid?’
‘Probably not. I’ll see what I can do.’ came her reply. ‘The fact that you’re also managing to avoid all attempts at contact is spurring them to push to have you removed from your position.’
My brow arched. ‘They want to revoke my Pokemon Expert status?’
‘Which they can’t do. It’s like being a Pokemon Professor. Unless you are proven incompetent, and all the Professor’s who nominated you withdraw their endorsement, which they tried and failed to do, they can’t revoke anything.’
It was a bit worrying to find out that they had tried to fire me, but I guess it was to be expected. ‘Well that’s good to know.’
‘What’s weird is some of the reports I’m reading… Have you really been out of contact since we last talked?’
A bit of a smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. ‘No one’s contacted me.’
Her reply made me laugh, ‘???????’ Followed by ‘What do you mean no one’s contacted you???? Who’s your Liaison?’
‘You are.’ I replied simply.
I didn’t get a reply to that.
Suddenly Keo took in a deep, shuddering breath and then nodded. “Okay…” she said with a nod. “Okay, yeah. I… I think I can do this.”
I looked down at her. “Are you sure? That means no more ice moves unless I say otherwise,” I said with a bit of a chuckle.
She looked up at me in confusion. “None?”
“Almost none,” I said. “We’ll do them occasionally so you don’t get rusty, but we need to do another run through of all the non-ice moves you can do, okay? Since you only showed me the ice ones.”
It took a moment before she nodded. “Okay…”
And damn was I annoyed all over again when she demonstrated all the other moves she knew. She knew so many moves, but she was bad at all of them. However, it was when we got to her fairy type moves that I actually got frustrated, though I did my best not to show it. “Was your father a Sylveon or from the Primarina line?” I asked when she was done and we sat back down.
Her head tilted to the side. “He’s a Sylveon,” she confirmed, her brow furrowed. “How did you know that?”
“Because you know both Baby-Doll Eyes and Moonblast,” I said with a sigh. “Which are both egg moves-” I paused, unsure if she would know that term since it was just a theory. “They’re moves that you can’t normally learn. But since you know both, and weren’t taught them, I assume they’re egg moves.”
She still seemed a bit confused, but nodded. “Yeah, he’s a Sylveon. My mother always said she liked having him around because he knew what he was doing with those ribbons, whatever that means.”
I coughed a bit, turning away. “Alright. Well, with those two moves you’re definitely going to want to build up your fairy energy a lot before evolving. I also want you to work on your steel type energy, and we’re going to have Rio and some of the Houndoom teach you Iron Tail.”
“Why Iron Tail?” she asked.
It was a question I was expecting. “Because you have four of them, and when you evolve you’ll have seven,” I explained simply. While I hoped evolution would help her out, unfortunately I had been told not to expect it to fix her missing appendages. Chances were good it would heal the little remaining damage in her eye and cause most of her scars to fade, but that was all, and Joy had said I shouldn’t get my hopes up for more. I should look into prosthetics.
Her brow furrowed a moment, before she looked over at some of the other Pokemon nearby and realization seemed to dawn. “Oh! I have way more tails than everyone else,” she said, actually sounding quite pleased at this revelation. Her pleasure was very notable as those tails were actually wagging, which was something I didn’t think I’d ever seen her do.
“Exactly. I have some other things I want you to work on, but we’ll get more into those details when we start doing actual training. Right now, your first task is to learn Iron Tail, okay?” I asked, smiling a bit.
She nodded enthusiastically, hopping up to her feet. “Okay!” And before I could say anything else, she shot off.
With a soft laugh under my breath, I picked the ice stone back up and put it in my bag. The drastic switch in attitude was honestly a bit worrying, and I was going to have to keep an eye on her mental stability.
At least we both seemed to feel better about the situation.
~
The next day was rather uneventful, and I spent most of it watching Keo learn Iron Tail from Hate. Rio was annoyed she couldn’t help, as Dee had stepped in and shut that down really quickly.
I also got my first view of the extent of Cara’s injuries as Dee changed her bandages.
The sight made my stomach twist.
Most of her left side from the stomach up was badly burned, and all the fur burned away. The burn traveled down her arm to just past her elbow, and nearly reached her other arm going in the other way. Some of her chin on the left side was also burned. The rest of her stomach, arm, and the left side of her face also showed signs of being burned, but not as badly. She had at least turned her head before being struck, so there was hardly any damage to the right side of her face.
Looking at the wound I could practically see where the center of the Hyper Beam had struck; directly in her left pectoral. The proximity to the center is actually why her chest spike didn’t also break like the one on her paw. Which was an entirely different thing to look at. It was rough, like when a rock is split in half. She seemed unbothered by the loss of the spike, it was the lack of being able to use that hand that irked her. It still shook violently if she tried to do anything with it besides let it sit limply.
Rio also got a change of bandages, and seemed to have the beginnings of what looked like a few scars running down her arm. The scars were jagged and chaotic. The canine thought they were cool, and was extremely disappointed when Dee explained that they would fade pretty quickly.
It was just after noon when Emma started texting me again. ‘Hey, so you’re in contact with the Mewtwo thing, right?’
I hesitated a moment before replying, ‘Yes.’
‘Cool. Cool cool cool.’ There were a few seconds after that response before I got another, ‘Could you explain to it that it can’t just blow up a hospital and attack people?’
I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. ‘I’ve already had a talk with them about that. They felt really bad about putting you all in a coma and just wanted to make sure you all were alright.’
Several minutes passed before I got a reply, that was a simple, ‘Oh.’
I was considering asking her about what was happening in the Association, but her next reply caused me to stop.
‘So, I’ve been suspended.’ she sent and I just stared at the message for a moment. ‘They said they’re not blaming me, but they’re clearly blaming me.’
‘Sorry.’ I replied.
‘It’s fine. Just means I don’t have to help them.’ I could practically hear the smug tone in the text. ‘Felt really good when they told me I was suspended, and then asked me to hand over your contact information and I told them no.’
A snort escaped me. ‘Really?’
‘Well, specifically I told them “As per regulation 287.4 section eight, a suspended Association employee is prohibited from doing anything related to their position. Which includes the handover of information to any other party.” which was a real fun way of saying fuck you I don’t have to do what you tell me.’ She followed it up with a smiley face.
‘Thanks.’ I replied.
‘Of course. Wouldn’t’ve handed over anything anyways. Some really shady stuff happening. Apparently there’s been a big upsurge in police activity, and the Association is freaking out because they’re being kept out of the loop.’
That was interesting. I knew that Chief Cassandra had said she didn’t want the Association to be involved, but it sounded like they were keeping them completely in the dark. ‘Interesting.’
‘Anyways. Stay safe. And stay hidden. Things are weird right now, but hopefully it’ll all blow over in the new year.’
‘Thanks Emma. You too.’ I put my phone away as I thought about all the different things that were going on, before refocusing. Malva would be here tonight, and I needed to be ready.
~
I was in the middle of making dinner for everyone, including the wolf pack, when Malva and Valerie showed up. Malva was a rather lithe woman with pink hair, and was at the moment wearing a pair of red rimmed glasses. What caught me off guard was the way that her face seemed to light up at the sight of the wolf pack.
All of them looked over at her, a bit wary at seeing someone new. All of them were lined up, patiently waiting for their plate of curry.
“Ah, you must be Malva,” I said with a bit of a smile as they approached my kitchen area.
“And you’re the Pokemon Expert Jason, right?” she replied, returning my smile. “One of Kalos' most wanted. The man who has avoided both League and Association attempts to detain him. Cooking for us like he's not in trouble. Quite the setup you’ve got.” She was looking at the kitchen, but I saw the way her eyes flicked to the Pokemon nearby, lingering a brief moment longer on Essy and Diancie.
“That’s me. But I prefer Jace.” I turned most of my attention back to my cooking, but I took note of the way all the dogs watched her, especially with how focused Hate was on her. "And, I'm not in trouble," I added as I tasted a bit of the curry.
Malva nodded. “True. Honestly a lot of us are confused at the League and Associations actions. But... enough about that. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since Val suggested it. She’s mentioned a few times how good your cooking is.”
Valerie huffed, giving Malva a little slap with her costume wing. “I do not.”
I laughed. “Well, it’ll be a little bit. There’s a lot of Pokemon to feed.”
Malva nodded as she leaned against the other side of the counter, looking at all the dogs patiently waiting. There was a rather interesting look on her face. A sort of fond expression on her face. She probably knew that they were Pokemon from Team Flare.
However, I noticed the way her expression shifted as Valerie started to explain the wolf pack more. Specifically why we only had ones from more recent events. Malva seemed… unaware that they put down the Pokemon that they captured? Or perhaps she just never paid attention to what happened to them?
“So how goes the progress on your reserve?” Malva asked, looking at me as I started to plate up portions for the dogs.
“I dunno,” I admitted, “Everyone keeps me out of the loop.”
“It’s going well,” Valerie said with a bit of a giggle. “Diantha refuses to involve him more than necessary because she finds it funny.”
Malva joined in on her giggling. “That is so like her.”
“Yeah, yeah…” I said with a huff. I straightened up a bit. “Mewtwo?”
There was a sudden pressure as the Pokemon appeared in front of me. “Yes?” their voice echoed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Valerie and Malva both tense, hands going for their pokeballs. A few of the wolf pack also startled, but calmed when they realized who it was. They had been quick to adopt Mewtwo into the wolf pack when I explained their history.
“Here,” I said as I handed them a plate. Their serious expression melted into one of excitement as they accepted the plate, sitting crosslegged in the air as they began to eat. “Let me know if you want more.”
They nodded, slowly drifting away to watch the television. I still wasn’t sure if letting them do that was a good idea, but I wasn’t about to tell them no. It had been a spur of the moment thing the previous night to invite them to dinner and try to explain the world to them. When they showed interest in the Mystery Dungeon show, the first thing I did was explain to them that it was fake, and that those Pokemon were actors. I didn’t want another Keo problem.
“Is…is that…” Valerie muttered, and I turned my attention back to the two of them.
“Ah, yes. That’s the same Mewtwo,” I said as I started to hand plates out to the wolf pack. They accepted them eagerly, tails wagging as they moved out of the way so that they could start eating. “Officer Jenny asked me to uh… educate them a bit on how society functions after the incident at the hospital.”
“I heard about that,” Malva said, seeming to relax, though her hand remained near her pokebelt. “It caused quite a scene, damage was severe, but injuries were minimal."
“They don’t understand things,” I said with a bit of a sigh, letting Dee and Mikyu do most of the plate passing now that I needed to get back to cooking. “They probably would have starved by now if they hadn’t sought me out in the forest. They barely knew how to feed themselves when given food, and didn’t know what foraging was.”
“And why were you given this task?” Malva asked, clearly curious about the feline Pokemon.
“Because they trust me. Or at least I think they do?” I shook my head a bit. “Not sure.”
There were a few moments of silence as I continued cooking. “Have they… told you what they did with the ex-Director?” Valerie asked softly. “I heard the Yellow Family say he was back with them, but apparently no one’s seen him.”
I glanced at her and then laughed a bit. “From what they described, they sent him into orbit.”
They both seemed to be confused at my comment and gave me rather funny looks. “Orbit?”
I paused as I thought about how they had described it when I asked the previous night. “They flew up as high as they could, to the point that the ex-Director couldn’t breathe, and then threw him as hard as they could.”
“Ah…” Malva made a soft noise, glancing at the Pokemon that was now joined by many others in front of the television.
“I don’t think anyone will ever see him again,” I added with a bit of a nod.
“Good riddance,” Valerie said with a huff, and I could tell that she was folding her arms in front of her.
It seemed Malva could tell as well, because she giggled and nudged her. “He was a prick.”
“Worse than that,” Valerie said with a shake of his head. “I can’t imagine how many people’s minds he twisted using that poor Mewtwo.”
The two of them devolved into a conversation about all the messed up things that were probably the ex-Directors fault as I finished up the cooking.
Finally all the Pokemon were fed, including Valerie's and Malva’s. Malva only had four Pokemon with her: Pyroar, Torkoal, Chandelure, and a Talonflame. It was a good thing that she didn’t have any huge Pokemon, but this was her Elite Four team.
“Do you like spicy food, Malva?” I asked as I plated Valerie’s curry. She liked sweet curry the most, so I made sure to add more of that to her portion.
“Not particularly,” Malva said with a laugh. “I’m actually more a fan of sour things.”
I nodded a bit as I made hers a bit more sour. Of course, I couldn’t give her the straight sour curry, since I’d found people reacted poorly to the pure stuff. “Sour it is,” I said with a smile as I handed her the plate.
She took it, clearly excited. And that first bite was always so entertaining to watch. The look of bliss that she had on her face. “Oh Arceus this is good. You should open a restaurant.”
“Right?” Valerie said, already enjoying her curry. “And he feeds his Pokemon like this every night.”
Malva choked softly, coughing a bit. “Every night?”
“Diet is important,” I said as I handed Dee her plate, the last one before me to be served. “Pokemon are athletes, they need the proper nutrition, vitamins, and care. And it tasting good is a bonus.” I leaned against the counter with my own plate.
“I mean, yeah,” Malva said with a bit of a laugh. “I pay close attention to that, and have frequent visits to the Joy's. Just, seems like a lot of work to do for so many by yourself.”
“It is, but it’s worth it. My team is evidence of that,” I gestured at them with my fork.
Malva made a thoughtful noise. “Mmm I guess that’s true.”
“Don’t bother, Mal. I’ve seen him have this discussion a few times. Even heard him giving a lecture on proper diet and nutrition,” Valerie said, trying to stifle a giggle.
“As expected of a Pokemon Expert,” Malva said, leaning in a bit with a smile. “I’m sure you know more about Pokemon than some Professors. At least that’s-”
Suddenly all of our phones made an odd noise. Before any of us had a chance to look, the television suddenly cut, showing one of the oldest Jenny’s I’d ever seen. “Attention. We, the Jenny Clan, would like to apologize for the interruption. As of right now, Kalos has entered a state of lockdown. This is not a drill. Everyone is to immediately seek shelter and remain there until the lockdown is lifted.”
Valerie’s attention snapped to me. “This-”
But the Jenny continued. “Any League affiliated Trainers that wish to assist may approach a Jenny with their Identification out. Those who assist will be compensated in accordance with how much they help. All others should seek shelter and remain until the lockdown is lifted.”
Checking my phone, I saw a similar message. As well as ‘Only Emergency Services are accessible at this time.’
“It’s happening now?!” Valerie exclaimed. “What are we doing here?! We could be out there helping!”
“I’m not allowed to participate,” I explained with a bit of a sigh. “And I’m going to need your help here.”
She looked at me, puzzled. “What-”
Valerie’s words were cut off by an odd little noise coming from Malva’s pocket. She hesitated, looking between the two of us. “That’s probably Lysandre,” I said calmly, taking another bite of my curry.
Malva narrowed her eyes at me as she slowly pulled a Holocaster from her pocket, and it immediately lit up. “Malva,” came the distinct voice of Lysandre, as well as a holographic image of the man. “I need you to end your little date and head to the Lab immediately.”
“What happened?” Malva asked slowly, glancing at the two of us.
“The Lab has been seized by the Jenny’s. I’m on my way there now, but I fear I’m going to need your assistance,” Lysandre almost sounded reluctant to request help from Malva.
“Alright,” she said hesitantly before putting the Holocaster away and looking up at me.
I was in the process of slipping on the Z-Ring that I had been keeping in my pocket, just in case. Her eyes flickered with recognition as she saw it, clearly knowing what it was. “You have three options, Malva. You can stay here and give up on Team Flare, fight us, or leave and either join Lysandre in a desperate attempt to keep Team Flare going or flee Kalos.”
Her eyes darted around, as most of my Pokemon and every member of the wolf pack was now standing in a semicircle around her, though not blocking her escape. If she wanted to run, I wasn’t going to stop her. I glanced at Valerie, who had taken several steps away from Malva, with a rather conflicted expression. Seems she hadn’t found out Malva was Team Flare. The only ones who didn’t come over were Mewtwo, Rio and Cara.
“I don’t really have a choice, do I?” Malva said through gritted teeth. Malva's Pokemon looked tense behind her, clearly shifting slightly to get into better positions to protect their Trainer.
“Of course you do. I just explained them to you,” I said as I picked my plate up to continue eating. “I’ve promised I would remain in the gym, and I’m not going to break that promise. So I won’t chase you.”
She was silent for a moment before she sighed. “It’s not a choice. If I walk out that door, or fight you, I lose everything.” With a sigh, she took another bite of her curry, clearly accepting her fate. “This is actually convenient. Lysandre has been getting more and more unhinged lately, and I was thinking about ditching Flare anyways.”
I nodded. “Good. I really didn’t want to have to fight you.”
She sighed again. “You really planned all this out really well, didn’t you? Never would have thought you were a schemer.”
“You would think that, wouldn’t you?” I said with a bit of a laugh as I rubbed the back of my neck. “Now that that’s settled, you can explain things to your girlfriend,” I said with a nod at Valerie.
Malva seemed to freeze, her eyes flicking towards the other human in the room. It seems like she had forgotten Valerie was there. “Oh. Uh… Yeah. This is going to be an awkward conversation…”
And it was. Oh Arceus that was an awkward conversation and I bailed on it quickly. I did hear the beginning of Malva’s explanation, that when she joined, Lysandre wasn’t anything like the man he is now. He was a bit jaded with society, but he wasn’t the complete madman that he was now. Interestingly enough, she blamed Xerosic on his drastic shift into thoughts of genocide.
It was nearly ten in the morning the next day when the Jenny’s called off the lockdown. The old Jenny appeared on the television again, explaining the reason for the lockdown. She started by explaining that Team Flare had been found engineering a bio weapon, capable of wiping out all of Kalos. And then she just… kept listing things. Pokemon theft, trafficking in illegal substances and weaponry, and experimentation on both humans and Pokemon.
As I was listening, Adria called me. “Jace. Where are you?” she asked immediately, and judging by her tone of voice she was well prepared to start lecturing me.
I sighed. “At the gym, just like I said I would be. Jeez, do you not trust me or something?”
She winced at the comment. “Sorry…”
“It’s alright,” I replied with a smirk and a bit of a chuckle. “Your suspicions are well founded.”
Adria just stared at me. “And what the hell does that mean?”
“Well, while I didn’t break my promise of not leaving the gym, it just so happened that Malva came here to celebrate New Years,” I said with a smile.
All I heard was a heavy sigh followed by the phone clattering to a desk. There were a few moments of silence before she spoke again, “Is the gym still standing?”
“Oh we didn’t fight. Malva was more than eager to cooperate, in exchange for amnesty,” I explained as I leaned back in the chair I was sitting on.
Again Adria let out a long, heavy, drawn out sigh. “Thank Arceus…”
“So, how did it go?” I asked, eager to hear about the fruits of my labor.
“Good. Almost perfectly,” she said as she picked the phone back up.
“Almost?”
“A few got away. Lysandre is in custody, but some of the other elite members, admins, and grunts escaped,” she said, clearly frustrated. “We had thought Malva was amongst them, but I’m glad that isn’t the case.”
“What’s the public's reaction so far?” I asked, rubbing my chin.
“Still mostly shock. Too soon to tell, but… damn. I can’t imagine anyone supporting Team Flare after we put everything out.” She closed her eyes as she slumped in her chair. Then, as if an afterthought, she added, “Sycamore has been put under house arrest.”
“Was he part of Team Flare?” I questioned, now a bit more focused.
But she shook her head. “No. Not as far as we can tell. But he and Lysandre had a lot of contact with each other, so we have to investigate.”
I nodded a bit. “What about Association or League ties?”
She shook her head. “Practically none. Or at least, none that weren’t above board. The Association and League only dealt with Lysandre Labs, never with Team Flare. And everything is well documented, like they knew some day it would all fall apart and were covering their asses.”
“So they just left Team Flare alone in exchange for working with the Labs,” I guessed, and she nodded. “Annoying.”
“Especially because nothing was illegal. The Association is throwing a fit about the Jenny’s overstepping our authority, but the League is entirely on our side.” She looked at me for a moment. “Which I guess we have you to thank for that. Diantha didn’t even hesitate to join when asked. What did you tell her?”
“Nothing,” I said truthfully. “I just asked if she would help when asked. Glad she did.”
“The fight between her and Lysandre leveled three blocks… I can only imagine how bad it would have been if she wasn’t there.”
I felt a shiver go down my spine. “Lysandre was that strong?”
“He used some kind of weird device on his Pokemon. It ended up killing them…” her voice trailed off as she got a rather distant look. “The only reason Diantha was able to win was because it was a four on six… But after the fight, Lysandre’s Pokemon seemed to just… burn out before we could even get them to a Pokecenter.”
A slow breath escaped me as I stared up at the ceiling. “Damn…”
“And he didn’t even care,” she said and I could hear the tenseness in her voice. “He was just… He was disappointed in them. Like… Like it was their fault.”
“So he never finished it, I guess,” I muttered and I saw out of the corner of my eye the confused look she gave me. “Let me guess, the device was small, pierced their skin, with an odd artificial Mega Stone?”
She continued to stare, but nodded. “Yeah…”
“Then it’s a similar device to the Hydreigon incident,” I explained.
She frowned and then sat up, typing something on a computer in front of her. “Ah… Yeah, here it was. Stolen from the Research Center?” she questioned.
So it was a Research Center. Good to know. “Yes. Sycamore said it went missing. And the Pokemon, it’s Trainer and the kids' father all went missing.”
“I’m flagging it as a Flare Incident,” she said with a sigh. “Just one more thing on a very, very, very, very, very long list.”
A snort escaped me. “Well, at least it’s mostly dealt with.”
She nodded. “Team Flare will have a really hard time doing anything now.”
“And that’s a good thing," I replied as I relaxed into the chair. I wasn't entirely glad that I had been sidelined, but if Lysandre had pressured Diantha that much, I wouldn't complain. At least, not too much.
End of Arc One: Snuffing the Flare
Chapter 31
Notes:
Current Pokemembers:
Cara - Lucario - The group mom, battered and out of action
Rio - Lucario - Craves violence, busted arm and out of action
Scoly - Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit
Primarina - Primarina - Doing big seal things
Dee - Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon
Diancie - Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people
Eevee - Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life
Sliggoo - Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy
Mikyu - Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress
Banette - Banette - Silent but persuasive?
Keo - Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry
Essy - Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.
Liar - Liepard - Big hungry cat
Bungle - Houndour - Just a little pup
Disaster - Houndoom - Bit of a space case
Immodest - Mightyena - Super serious
Alma - Egg (Fennekin) - Not up to too much yet.
Chapter Text
“Would it help if I said I was sorry? Again?” I asked, looking at Valerie out of the corner of my eye. She was just standing there, glaring at me. And she had been doing so for the last half hour. I had apologized several times, but she was still mad. Of course, I didn’t blame her. While I hadn’t done anything egregious, I hadn’t told her.
“You knew she was Team Flare,” she said. Again. The accusatory tone just got even thicker every time she said it. Malva had left a little over half an hour ago. Well, left would be the wrong way to put it. Diantha and a few Officer Jenny’s had shown up and politely requested she come with them, and we were still standing in the lobby.
“Yes, I did. I’m sorry,” I said with a sigh.
“And you didn’t tell me,” she said, again.
“Yes, I didn’t. Again, I’m sorry,” I said with another sigh.
“Why?” she demanded.
I let out a longer and even heavier sigh than my previous ones. She was just asking the same questions over and over again, as if she was expecting a different answer. It was starting to get annoying, but at the same time I really did understand. Her girlfriend just got arrested, and I had essentially been the one who called the cops. My first reaction was to tease her over it, but she was clearly not in the mood for that.
So instead, I remained patient and just explained it again, “Because I knew you would be good for her. She was part of Team Flare because of her view on the world, and I knew that you being part of her life would change her outlook.”
It wasn’t even like I did that much. I just didn’t tell her certain things, and encouraged the relationship. Mostly it just worked out on its own. “But why didn’t you tell me?” Valerie asked, breaking me out of my train of thought.
I turned a bit to fully face her. It seemed the loop of questions and silence was finally broken. “Because it wouldn’t have helped. Knowing wouldn’t have helped anyone. And I know it was…” I sighed, rubbing my face as I tried to think of the proper way to say it. Thankfully she remained silent as I gathered my thoughts. I folded my hands, placing them in my lap as I looked at her. “It was the only way I could think of to get her to leave Flare.”
“So you used me,” she said bluntly.
And I winced. It probably did look like that from her point of view. “I just encouraged you. Both of you can be happier, and the world can be a better place.” The words ‘For the Greater Good’ came to mind, but I stuffed them down. I wasn’t about to let my line of thinking follow that path.
Valerie went quiet again, her brow furrowing. She was probably thinking back to past interactions, or replaying my words in her head, or trying to think of what to say. “Well… I guess I shouldn’t complain too much…” she said eventually, sighing. “I talked with Malva a lot, and… There’s a lot of things she did that I don’t like, but she wants to put in the effort…”
I nodded, not really having anything to add.
“And I get why you didn’t tell me anything, but I’m still upset.” She stomped her foot. “Arceus, Jace. What if things hadn’t gone the way you planned?”
“I had confidence,” I said, a bit of a smile pulling at the corner of my mouth. “In both you, and how Malva was going to react. She’s not as crazy as most of Team Flare.” I wasn’t sure how exactly to explain all the knowledge I had without just telling Valerie the truth about my origins… Maybe I should do that?
Valerie huffed, turning away from me and looking out the front door of the gym. It was silent in the lobby. Allie wasn’t even there, as she had left to do her own thing for New Years and hadn’t come back yet. That’s part of what we were waiting for. Valerie didn’t want to leave the front unattended.
It was silent for a few minutes more before I spoke, “I really am sorry. I really hate doing things like that… But I was honestly worried.” I sighed, leaning against one of the pillars as I looked outside. “And I really was confident that it would work out. But… I’m honestly not sure if you would believe why I know that. It’s been pretty hit or miss on if people actually believe me…”
She was looking at me, studying me as if trying to see what sort of meaning my words had. “Would you tell me if I asked? Even if I didn’t believe you?”
I chuckled a bit and nodded. “Yeah. Just know it’s… pretty wild.” The only reason I was so hesitant was because of Sycamore. Finding out that not only did he not believe me, he had actually told other people without asking me really soured my willingness to tell people. But that wasn’t really fair to Valerie.
There was quite a contemplative look on her face, and her head tilted to the side slightly as she thought. “Does it really matter?” she said after a while.
A snort escaped me and I shrugged. “Depends. Doesn’t change who I am, but it would explain a lot of the things I do.”
Again she fell silent for a moment before she just shook her head. “Nah. I don’t think it matters. I’d rather just think you’re weird.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that’s fair.”
It got quiet again, but now it was a comfortable silence. Or at least a more comfortable one, considering that she was still mad at me. But at least now she wasn’t stuck in some sort of questioning loop anymore. And after a few minutes we could see Allie running towards the gym.
She practically kicked open the front door, staring at the two of us, and breathing heavily. “What the hell happened?!” she shouted.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “What makes you think we would know?” I asked, though she wasn’t wrong.
She pointed at me accusingly. “Don’t give me that! I know for a fact you know what happened! I know you’ve been doing all that…” She flailed her hands. “Team Flare stuff!”
“True,” I said with a nod, still laughing a bit. I then gave her a rough explanation of what happened.
Allie just stared at me. “You got Malva arrested?!” she shouted, running over to Valerie and dramatically throwing her arms around her. “How could you do that to Val?”
Again I laughed, shaking my head. “Of course that’s what you’re focused on… Malva should be fine. The League and Association will probably bury the fact she was Team Flare, since that would be really bad publicity.”
She fell silent, and then looked at Valerie who nodded. “Ugh… How annoying,” she muttered as she walked over towards her desk.
Valerie went over as well, giving me a bit of a glare before turning away. Probably would be a while till she stopped being mad.
I took a step outside, wanting a bit of fresh air. It was quiet, and hardly anyone was around. There would probably be some backlash that this happened over a holiday, if there wasn’t already. But it was the best time.
Judging from the mostly undisturbed snow, it had snowed sometime during the lockdown. The only footprints I could see were those left by the Jenny’s, Diantha, Malva, and Allie. I slowly traced them as I let my mind wander.
I just stood there for a moment, breathing in the cold air. My body felt oddly tired, but that was probably the cold. Mikyu was still working on repairing my jacket, so I didn’t have much protection from the weather.
But that was fine. The cold was… soothing. Grounding in a way. And yet I couldn’t help feeling this longing to just… go home. Sit on my couch, drink a beer. Maybe smoke a cigarette. Damn when was the last time I had wanted a cigarette? More than ten years, surely. Was it more than fifteen now?
That was something I refused to indulge in again. I’d gone down that path once before, and it was a hell of a fight to get off of it. I had people to take care of now. I couldn’t be like my mother and spend food and rent money on booze and smokes. I refused to be like that. Not when my new family relied on me.
The holidays were really the worst time of year.
I wondered if my parents knew I was missing. Was I missing? I still had no idea what happened. If they didn’t know before, surely they knew by now. My aunt would have done her yearly Christmas call to check in. And wouldn’t have gotten a response.
“Good riddance,” I could imagine my father saying.
“What did he leave for us?” my mother would comment. Actually that was probably giving the woman too much credit. I don’t think she would have said anything. We haven’t been on speaking terms for… has it been ten years already?
I shook my head, stuffing my hands into my pockets as I let out a long sigh, watching as my breath fogged, the water vapor condensing and crystalizing in front of me. A simple aspect of life that a lot of people don’t think about, myself included. But it was something nice to focus on rather than my own thoughts.
Everything had finished up in such a way that it was almost anticlimactic. It put me on edge. A niggling feeling in the back of my head. I wanted- no, I needed a list. I needed to know who got away. Who I needed to watch out for… Maybe I was just being paranoid… Lysandre had been one of - if not the - largest benefactor for Team Flare, and with him gone they should be severely crippled. I just had to hope they couldn’t recover. And didn’t find out about my involvement…
My phone buzzing brought me out of my thoughts, and when I looked down I noted two things: Diantha was calling me, and I had been out here for over two hours. And as if realization was the trigger, I realized just how damn cold I was.
“What’s up, Diantha?” I asked as I made my way back inside. Allie gave me a quizzical look, clearly wondering why I had been outside for so long just staring at the snow. I just sort of waved off her curious look as I made my way back towards the training room.
“Malva has been cleared,” she said with a big smile. It seemed she was quite happy about it.
“That was quick,” I commented, raising an eyebrow at her.
“The League didn’t want to drag their feet. She is an Elite Four member after all. If she was detained for too long, people would start asking questions,” she explained, sounding oddly joyful.
“I see. Good,” I said with a nod, leaning against the wall beside the door to the training room. I wanted to go in and warm up, but I knew I was going to be swarmed with Pokemon when I opened that door and pestered with questions.
“Also found out something quite curious from the Association representatives,” she said in a conspiratorial manner before looking around, making a show of making sure no one was listening in.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah? And what’s that?”
“You have a Fennekin egg, don’t you?” Her tone was almost teasing.
But even if she was playful about it, I couldn’t help the way that I straightened up. “And?”
She seemed to notice my tension and frowned a bit. “And not just any Fennekin egg. It’s from… that special Delphox.”
My eyes narrowed a bit as I looked at her. “And?” I repeated.
“And that was one of the Association's prized starter breeders. She belonged to one of the old Champions, and when he died she was given her freedom in exchange for giving her eggs to the Association.” She sighed a bit. “Which was the first time I heard about it.”
“And how exactly did you hear about it?” I questioned.
“They started being weird during Malva’s questioning, and tried turning the focus on to you. When they started asking about if you had an egg, it got us all suspicious. Because that is a very odd and very specific question.” I realized that her playful tone was her trying to maintain her composure.
I dragged a hand down the side of my face. “So that’s what the man hunt is about…”
She nodded. “That Delphox has always produced high performing offspring. Your roster is just too tempting. The variant, the Mythic, and an egg laid by a former Champion’s Pokemon.”
“So it’s just straight up greed,” I said with a sigh, and she nodded. I paused before a thought occurred to me. “What the heck is up with variants, anyways? All this Team Flare nonsense kicked off because of one, but I just don’t get it.”
“Well, they’re worth a lot of money. And are usually abnormally strong for their species,” she explained.
I remained silent, waiting for more. However, she didn’t continue. “That… That’s it?”
She nodded. “Yup.”
Again I fell silent for a moment. “So you’re telling me… that all of that nonsense started because there was a chance that Essy would be stronger than the usual Espurr?”
She nodded again. “Yuuuup.”
I really was not sure how to process that. Team Flare attacked a Pokecenter because there was a variant there. And from what I knew, the attacking force hadn’t even known about Diancie until they got there. So I couldn’t even chalk it up to a ‘two birds one stone’ scenario. I pinched the bridge of my nose. “That is so stupid.”
Diantha laughed, nodding. “Right?” She gave me quite a big smile. “In better news, the League essentially told them to fuck off. With Malva cleared, she immediately jumped to your defense. Which means with me, and three Elite Four members on your side, the League has no choice but to support you.”
“Three?” I questioned.
“Siebold and Drasna have advocated for you, and with Malva joining in and Wikstrom remaining neutral, the League officials had to shift their stance,” she explained, that large smile still on her face.
My brow furrowed. “Why would they support me?”
She shrugged. “Dunno. You’ll have to ask them yourself. I would still avoid the Association if I was you, but you won’t have to worry about the League.”
“I will still worry about the League,” I said with a bit of a scoff. “The fact they were so quick to jump on me leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
There was a frown on her face but she slowly nodded. “Okay… Yeah that’s fair. Alright. I still have work to do. Stay safe!” she said suddenly before hanging up, not giving me a chance to respond.
A soft laugh escaped me as I leaned against the wall. I was really dragging out going in and talking with everyone for some reason. Honestly I was starting to get annoyed with myself, but at the same time, I just wanted a distraction.
As if to answer my request, my phone started to ring again. I blinked and looked at it before answering. “Evelyne? What’s up?”
“I… Uh… Jace… So uh… What uh… What are we supposed to do with all of these Pokemon?” she asked, fumbling a bit with her words. The Joy looked like an absolute mess. One of her hair loops had come undone and the other didn’t look too far behind. And her nurse outfit was a mess, covered in dirt and what looked like soot.
That was a really damn good question. “Uh… hm… I’m actually not sure… The Reserve isn’t done yet, as far as I know… And it’s going to take about a month for it to be in any sort of working order, as far as I’ve been told. I think we just have to wait.”
“A… A month…” she mumbled and let out a heavy sigh, closing her eyes. She almost looked like she had black eyes with the bags under her eyes. “Okay… We can probably limbo them for a month or two…”
“How… How many Pokemon are there?” I asked hesitantly. I realized I wasn’t sure if I wanted the answer to this.
She kept her eyes closed for a moment before opening them slowly. “Three thousand, seven hundred, and fifty two.”
I felt my back tighten a bit as the hallway suddenly felt very, very quiet. “Shit…” I muttered.
“All of them are assigned to you,” she said, and clearly took pleasure in the horrified expression that crossed over my face.
“All of them?” I asked incredulously.
“You don’t have a Pokemon limit. And we can’t have them unassigned because then they would get… processed,” she said slowly, and I saw the way she shuddered.
“Would anyone even do that?” I asked, a bit concerned.
“I… I don’t think so…” she said after a moment. “But none of us wanted to chance Association or League interference. It’s easier to just… put you as their owner than process them as unclaimed or something.”
I nodded slowly. “I’m not… upset or anything. Just… It’s a bit shocking to find out that I have over thirty seven hundred Pokemon.”
She let out a tired laugh. “Yeah.”
“We’ll have to set up some kind of special categorization of the reserve…” I said with a sigh. “That way if something happened to me, they wouldn’t all just be-” I paused, not wanting to finish the thought.
Suddenly Evelyne looked a bit concerned. “Are things still bad?”
“I’m currently really high on the Association’s shit list. The League is sort of backing down, but there are still a lot of powerful people who don’t like me for some reason,” I said with a bit of a smirk.
Evelyne giggled tiredly. “Can’t imagine why…”
There was a nice moment of silence, and I could see that Evelyne was in a better mood. “Have you seen to all of the Pokemon?”
She shook her head. “It’ll take a few more days… We still have normal duties to perform, but the Elder has sent us extra hands… Feel like I’m at a family reunion every time I enter the break room,” she said with a bit of a smile.
I smiled a bit more and nodded. “Right. Well, don’t rush, okay? We have time..”
“Right,” she said with a nod. “We’re actually getting pretty fast at getting through things. There’s been a dozen new procedures made, and twice that have been thrown out…” She seemed to fall silent for a moment and her eyes were downcast as her expression soured.
It looked like she wanted to say something, but at the same time didn’t. I remained quiet, letting her process whatever was on her mind.
“We’re starting to get requests from other regions…” she said eventually.
I blinked. “Other regions?”
She nodded slowly. “Team Flare isn’t the only criminal organization… And other Pokecenters have to deal with abandoned Pokemon. There’s already talk about having them transferred here.”
I sighed as I slid down to the floor. “Okay… We can do that, I think. We just… We just need the facility up and running. And more Joy’s.”
That seemed to brighten her mood a bit. “We’ve been getting quite a few requests to join, actually. From outside of the region.”
“Really?” I asked, smiling a bit. “I think we’ll take all the help we can get.”
She nodded. “Yeah.” She glanced to the side. “Okay, my break’s almost over. I still have another ten Pokemon to check before I can clock off.”
“Okay,” I said with a smile. “Keep up the good work.”
All I got was a huff in response as she hung up.
Rather than put my phone away, I quickly went through my contacts. It was only a few seconds before someone picked up. “Hello?” came a rather groggy voice.
“Emma? Were you sleeping?” All I could see was the underside of what looked like a lamp, and the ceiling. I could also see something pink at the edge of the camera. Her phone was probably on a nightstand, and her Ditto had answered. “It’s well past noon.”
There was silence for a few moments before sudden almost frantic shuffling and the phone was snatched up and Emma came into view. “Jace? What happened? Are you okay?”
I put up a hand. “I’m fine. I just wanted to check in, since you’re my liaison and all.”
She scoffed. “Not anymore. They fired me yesterday.”
“Huh… Well, okay that actually makes this easier,” I said with a shrug. She gave me a look that was both confused and pissed. But before she had a chance to voice her frustration, I continued. “I have a job for you.”
“A…job?” she asked slowly, her brow furrowing.
“It won’t pay well, if at all, and is probably going to make the Association hate you even more,” I explained, a bit of a smile pulling at the corner of my mouth.
She let out a long sigh. “You make it sound oh so wonderful,” she said, sarcasm dripping from every word.
“But you’ll be able to help Pokemon. A lot of Pokemon.” I smiled a bit more. “And I mean a lot.”
Now she just looked confused. “Okay? So what would I need to do?”
“I don’t know laws and regulations,” I admitted. “But you do. And while I think Diantha can strong arm her way through most issues that come up, I want someone who can talk legal at the bastards who’ll get in our way.”
“I’m not a lawyer," she said with a bit of a soft laugh. “But I could help.”
“Good.” I nodded a bit, glad to have her on my side. Her personality had definitely shifted now that the mind control wasn’t influencing her. That car ride was probably the first time I ever saw the real Emma.
“So… What are you doing that requires someone with my sort of skills?” She rolled over to lay on her stomach, resting her head on her arm. She looked like some preteen talking about boys. I could swear I even saw her legs kicking in the background.
“We’re starting a Pokemon Reserve for abandoned and confiscated Pokemon-”
She suddenly shot up, and was now standing. “That’s what you’re up to?!” she shouted, now looking pissed off again. “I got fired because you and Diantha were doing something and I didn’t know what it was!”
I remained quiet as I watched her fume for a few moments. “They fired you because you didn’t know something that not even they knew was going on?”
Emma took a few deep breaths before sitting down with a huff. “Well, I also refused to get the information, since I was suspended and all. I wasn’t obligated to help them until I was reinstated… So they just fired me instead.”
“So… they fired you because you refused to do a job you weren’t being paid to do.” She nodded and I sighed. “Typical management…”
She nodded a few times. “Okay, so you’re making a Pokemon Reserve… And Diantha is helping. Who else?”
I flexed my fingers a bit before switching which hand was holding the phone. My hands were still cold and actually hurt a bit. It didn't look like I had frostbite, but I should really try and warm up. “Both Jenny and Joy clans are assisting, the Joy’s moreso.”
She whistled. “Damn…”
“We also have Valerie, and maybe Malva.” I wasn’t sure if the Elite Four member would be willing to assist, but I could probably get her on our side by letting her interact with the wolf pack and maybe befriending a Houndour or Houndoom.
“No wonder the Association has no idea what you’re doing… Aside from buying a ton of land, and hiring almost every construction crew in Kalos.” She rubbed her face, as if trying to rub what little sleep was left off of it.
“I don’t know the details,” I had to admit. “Everyone has been keeping me in the dark, because Diantha thinks it’s funny.”
She laughed, honestly really hard. Hard enough that she doubled over and nearly dropped the phone. “That is so like her!”
“So I’ve been told,” I grumbled a bit, but couldn’t help but smile.
Emma wiped a few budding tears from her eyes when she finally stopped laughing. “Oh jeez… I needed that.”
“So, will you help?” I asked, not actually having gotten an answer.
She hesitated a moment. “Are you sure you want my help? Clearly you don’t need it considering all the people already helping.”
A snort escaped me. “Yes, I’m sure. An ex-Association personnel of your skill would be extremely helpful.” And I felt bad about how I had treated her when she was being mind controlled. Sure, all my suspicions had been correct, but I was still a jerk about it.
Her brow furrowed a bit as she seemed to think it over. I thought she was about to answer, but instead she just yawned.
“Why are you so tired?” I asked, chuckling a bit.
“Ah, me and my sister stayed up all night drinking,” she replied sheepishly, rubbing her eyes. “We don’t usually do that…but I had just been fired, and it was New Years.”
“Mix of celebration and sorrow,” I said with a nod. I knew that pretty well, so I wasn’t going to judge them.
“Exactly.” She fell silent for a moment before nodding. “Alright. I think I can also get Kaitline to assist, if that’s okay?”
“Of course,” I said with a smile. “The more people helping, the better. Just know that we’ve essentially got zero income. Diantha is footing the bill for everything right now, for some reason.”
“It’s probably a good reason,” Emma mused, putting a finger to her chin in thought. “She’s done a lot of weird things in the past, but there always ends up being a reason. And it’s not like she’s lacking in money. She’s the Champion, and one of the most famous actresses in the entire world.”
“Alright. Well, I’ll pass along your information to her and explain things.”
“Eh?” She suddenly startled. “W-wait. You want me to talk with Diantha?”
“Well, yeah. She won’t tell me anything, so it’s not like I can play middleman,” I explained as I sent a message to Diantha, explaining who Emma was as well as her contact information.
“W-w-w-wait. Wait wait wait wait wait wait. You… You can’t… You can’t just do that!” She seemed almost panicked. “Diantha is a very busy and very important person.”
“And now that very important person has your phone number,” I said with a bit of a smirk, as I received a reply from Diantha saying that she would reach out to her when she had a chance.
“Huh?!” she made a noise of panic.
“Thanks for the help, Emma,” I said before hanging up. Emma started sending me messages, mostly saying that I couldn’t do that, but I just put my phone away as I stood up.
When I entered the training room, just like I thought, I was bombarded with questions. They all wanted to know how everything went. What was going to happen now. It took Hate actually barking at them to shut up in order for me to be able to answer.
I spent time explaining what I knew, and I didn’t sugarcoat it. I explained to them how there were some that got away. When I explained how many had actually been rescued, there were a few that apparently didn’t understand how ridiculous of an amount that was and had to be told.
Explaining everything was just as annoying as I thought it would be, and took several hours. Mostly it took so long because I had to explain things more than once, and there were also a lot of questions I couldn’t answer that they simply kept asking.
Eventually they all seemed satisfied. And once that was done, I gathered everyone and everything up and went back to the other training room. It wasn’t that I disliked hanging out with the wolf pack, I just needed to make dinner and wanted to relax. They also seemed… not quite nervous around me, but it was clear there was some sort of disconnect. I wasn’t part of the wolf pack, but they were very much aware I was in charge of them.
At least none of them were scared of me.
~
It was two days before Mikyu had finished with my jacket. And it honestly looked better than when it was new. She had also taken the liberty of increasing the amount of space for pokeballs. “How many do you expect me to have?” I teased her as I was investigating.
“I…well… I don’t know…” she muttered, fidgeting a bit.
I picked her up, giving her a tight hug as I thanked her for her hard work. She returned the hug, and honestly it took a long time for her to let go. I didn’t mind. It seemed like she just wanted a bit more attention than what I had been giving her.
After that, the next few days passed oddly peacefully. Up until-
“Freedom!” Rio shouted, her arm no longer in a cast.
I snorted as she rushed away from the Nurse Joy who had brought her out. “Feel better?”
She nodded, flexing her arm and throwing a few punches at the air. “Much.”
I nodded a bit as the Joy approached me. This wasn’t one that I knew the name of. “She’s all healed up. She did well not aggravating it during her recovery period.”
A sigh escaped me and I nodded. “If only her mother would be the same…” Cara had been extremely grumpy about having to be sedentary. Dee had to practically be with her constantly to keep her from doing something that would hurt her or aggravate her injuries, which meant I had neither of them with me. Of the two of them I really hadn’t expected Rio to be the more level headed.
“Ah, yes… I did hear about what happened…” She looked around, as if to make sure no one was listening. “Everyone’s really glad someone finally stood up to Wulfric. Thank you.” She bowed slightly.
“It’s fine,” I said, waving it off. “When Wulfric is reinstated as Gym Leader next season, he’s going to be held to quite some serious scrutiny. So hopefully something like this won’t happen again.” My eyes wandered over to Rio, who was still shadowboxing the air.
“I can’t believe they’re letting him come back,” she whispered harshly, her brow furrowed.
“Same.” I nodded, also annoyed. But, I had been informed a few days ago that the investigation had completed. I was apologized to and reinstated, with backpay. Which was nice, but honestly I don’t think I would have been too heartbroken if they had terminated me. Especially when I was told that Wulfric’s official punishment was suspension for the rest of the season without pay.
And that was it.
When I had pressed for more information, they said that the League would be in charge of monitoring him next season. And any sort of punishment for misconduct would be handled by them. Not the best solution, but apparently that was all they would be willing to do. This was being classified as his ‘first incident’ as nothing had been reported previously.
I wasn’t in trouble at all, but apparently my reaction is why his punishment was lessened. They counted my retaliation to nearly being murdered as justified, but also part of his punishment. Which was both frustrating and interesting. If I hadn’t hit him, he would have had to go through a lot more. At least I could take solace in knowing he was going to be in the hospital for a while, and eating with a straw for the next few months.
Speaking of pay, I did actually get paid for the gym battle on top of my monthly salary, a hefty combined total of seventy thousand. It was pretty clear that part of that was sort of hush money to make me drop it, but I guess that was fine.
What wasn’t fine was that Emma was still fired and they weren’t going to rehire her. Someone in the Association had finally found my contact details somewhere. Which is where I got all this information from; my new liaison Gaston. And holy damn is his name fitting. No one’s big like Gaston. No one’s neck’s as incredibly thick as Gaston. The dude’s absolutely huge. He has biceps to spare, and not a bit of him's scraggly or scrawny
“Ah, so you’re Jason? All finished up?” Gaston said, having waited outside of the Pokecenter for me. He was impossible to miss. Seven feet tall, and built like a brick house. The towering man had a big smile on his face, which was a bit crooked in quite the handsome sort of way. I had agreed to meet him in person at the Pokecenter today since the Association apparently had a job for me, though details had been scarce. He reminded me a bit of the Gaston from the animated movie, but his personality was completely different.
I wondered if they had sent him to intimidate me, but honestly the guy was very polite and seemed almost happy to meet me. When he reached out to shake my hand, I almost hesitated because damn his hand nearly engulfed mine, but he didn’t even try to crush it. It was just a firm handshake. “Yes, I’m Jason, but I prefer Jace. You’re Gaston?”
He nodded, standing up a bit straighter. “Indeed I am. I’ll be your new Liaison due to Emma’s unfortunate termination.” He actually sounded a bit annoyed. “So this is one of your Lucario, yes?”
“Yes, this is Rio. We were here to get her cast off,” I explained.
Again he nodded. “Is she the one who delivered that incredible punch?” He did a sort of pose that was similar to how Rio had stood and threw a sort of mock punch at the air. “Hell of a move that was!”
“Yup, this is her.” I gave Rio a pat on the shoulder. She was looking at Gaston curiously.
“I wish I had a Lucario. You see, my specialty is fighting Pokemon, if that isn’t obvious.” He laughed as he flexed, slapping his bicep. The man could probably crush a skull with that arm. “But they’re a bit rare, and I never get the time to go out and look. And you have two…” The last line was grumbled a bit.
“How come they made you my liaison?” I asked, unable to help my curiosity.
He slapped his chest and nodded. “I volunteered. You’ve got a reputation for being…” He seemed to falter a bit, clearly debating if he should actually say it. “For being problematic. But, with how Emma talked about you, I know that that’s exaggerated, if not a straight up lie.”
“So you know Emma?” I asked, curious.
There was a smile on his face and he nodded. “Yup! I… Well, she hasn’t been answering my calls since she got fired, but I’m sure she’ll reply soon!”
I stared at him for a moment. “Did you volunteer as my liaison in hopes of Emma talking to you again?”
His entire body seemed to stiffen and he quickly turned away. “Of course not! Now, c’mon, off to the Association!” He quickly walked towards a truck.
“Well at least he doesn’t seem like a bad guy…” Rio whispered.
“Yeah… Hopefully Emma thinks the same,” I said with a sigh before returning Rio to her pokeball and getting into the truck.
Honestly it was a nice truck, and it seemed to be the perfect size for Gaston. Which meant I felt like a child trying to get into it. Gaston didn’t say anything, probably used to people struggling to get into his vehicle. Once I was buckled in, he gave me a smile before we started driving.
After a few minutes, I asked another question that I had been wondering about, “So were you one of the people in a coma?”
The smile on his face seemed to falter a bit. “Yeah. That was an absolute mess…” I watched as his grip tightened on the steering wheel. “And the fact that ex-Director Yellow just got to go home like nothing happened is frustrating.”
“So that’s the story they’re telling everyone?” I mused as I got more comfortable.
His eyes flicked towards me for a second. “What’s that mean?”
“The ex-Director is very much dead,” I said simply.
He was silent for a moment, clearly processing what I had just told him. After a moment he gave a slight nod. “Good. Men like that shouldn’t have power.”
“Agreed,” I said as I pulled out my phone, sending Emma a quick message, ‘What are your thoughts on Gaston?’ Out loud I continued to conversation, “So did you eat a lot of eggs growing up?"
He blinked, glancing at me. "What?"
I shook my head. "Nevermind... What Pokemon do you have? Since you’re a fighting type specialist… Pangoro?”
He puzzled over my words a bit but eventually chuckled a bit, nodding. “Pangoro is one I’ve got. My other two are Mienshao and my partner Hawlucha.” From the way he talked, he sounded very proud of his Pokemon. “During my Journey, Hawlucha and I soloed almost every gym. I thought we were hot stuff, until we got to the League and got knocked out in our second qualifier match!” He laughed again.
“That quick?” I asked, glancing at him.
“Never went against any of the main gyms. I thought quantity over quality for my badges, but quality over quantity for my team. Second round through, I got my Mienshao and Pangoro. Course they were a Mienfoo and Pancham when I picked them up. Almost made the top ten that year, but everyone had full teams of six and I couldn’t get very far.” He didn’t seem upset about it at all.
Emma sent a reply. ‘Ugh’
‘That bad?’ I sent back. “And you didn’t try again?”
He shook his head. “Nah. Ran out of funds, and had to get a job. Got picked up by the Association after that second showing, though. Four years later, here I am.”
‘He’s not bad.’ Emma replied. ‘He just keeps asking me out.’ The messages continued, ‘And don’t get me wrong, he’s damn good looking. And we get along pretty well. But we worked together a lot.’
“Sounds like you got pretty lucky,” I said as I looked at the large man. ‘Well you’re not working together anymore, right? So why keep him at a distance?’
“Oh for sure. Usually they send me to investigate wild Pokemon attacks, or out of control Pokemon. I was actually on my way to that Hydreigon incident when I got a call that it was over.” He glanced at me. “Good job on that, by the way. I have no idea why they called you first, though.”
“I think the ex-Director was trying to get me killed, or something,” I said with a shrug.
Gaston snorted. “Yeah, from what I’ve pieced together, you really pissed him off. My memories still a bit fuzzy about some things.”
“Wasn’t very hard,” I said with a bit of a laugh.
He laughed as well, nodding. “Never took much to get him mad.”
The conversation after that became more about what I had been doing, about my gym battles and other fights. He was really interested in the fights against Team Flare. So of course we started talking about the recent Flare Raid, as that’s what it’s being called by the media. I think it’s a bit of a dumb name, but honestly this world, and Pokemon in general, have this habit of making rather uninspired names.
When we parked near the Association headquarters, I remembered what had happened the last time I had been here. That felt like both a very long, and not long time ago. We approached the building at a leisurely pace, and Gaston talked about what it was like working there. He wasn’t there very often, but he supposed that now that he was my liaison he’d be spending a lot more time here.
Emma never responded, which I found amusing.
As we entered, there was a moment of bustling. Even though it was a sort of lobby, I could see quite a lot of people rushing around. Numerous people were waiting, chatting, doing their jobs. And it all came to a halt as we entered.
For a moment I thought it was just Gaston, but I quickly realized that everyone was staring at me. I rubbed my chin a bit, missing my beard once again, as we made our way over to one of the secretaries.
Gaston talked with the man behind the desk as I absentmindedly rubbed at my wrist. I was wearing the Z-Ring, just in case, and hiding it beneath the sleeve of my coat. I had honestly started wearing it more often. It was oddly comforting. Although, I really needed to start training my other Pokemon in how to use the moves that I had crystals for, but right now I figured that one All Out Pummeling from Rio would decimate the building enough for us to make an escape if things went bad.
Was I being paranoid? Probably. But considering how my last visit went, I felt extremely justified.
“We’ll just be in the conference room down the hall,” Gaston suddenly said, bringing me back from the depths of my thoughts.
“Alright,” I replied with a nod, and the two of us made our way towards a nearby door. As we walked, I could hear the mutterings and whispers behind us. From the bits that I heard, none of it sounded hostile.
When we entered the room, I nearly tripped at who I saw. Malva was sitting at the table, her arms folded. She clearly did not want to be there. And she looked just as surprised to see me as I was to seeing her.
Four of the other five people in the room weren’t people I recognized. However, I did recognize Gale, one of the other Pokemon Experts in Kalos. He seemed confused when he looked at me. Did he not recognize me? Or was he also not told I would be here?
“Good. Everyone is here now,” one of the older men said. He was a bit on the shorter side, and a bit stocky, with a completely bald head. “Everyone, please have a seat.”
Gaston and I did as asked, but I noticed that two of the men didn’t. They were standing ramrod straight, hands folded behind their backs. Clearly those were body guards. The other man was sitting by Gale, and I assumed that he was his liaison.
“For those of you who don't know, I am Director Lem,” the bald man said. He was clearly looking at me when he introduced himself, as I was probably the only one in the room who didn’t know who he was. “We are here to discuss things.”
I arched my brow. “I was informed this was a job.” Everyone seemed to give me a sort of puzzled look, aside from Malva who just smirked.
His eye twitched. “Rest assured, you will be paid for your time.” He cleared his throat before continuing, “Team Flare has officially been labeled as a terrorist organization. While the Jenny clan is facing repercussions for their actions, we will obviously be lenient since they did it for a very good reason.”
My brow furrowed a bit. I was honestly a bit confused as to why this needed to be a meeting. Again.
“Which brings us to the topic at hand. Malva was, up until now, the League’s planted spy in Team Flare. Any information you find regarding Malva is to be dismissed. I don’t expect any of you to have any run-ins with the remnant members, but it’s something that must be addressed.” He cleared his throat again, looking down at papers in front of him. “Malva.”
She straightened a bit, clearly a bit nervous as to why she was here. “Yes?”
“Thank you for your assistance,” he started, looking at her for a moment before turning his attention back to the paper. “I would like to request your full cooperation with the Association in getting rid of the remnants of Team Flare.”
Wait… Was I here to help intimidate Malva into working with the Association? From the look Malva gave Gale and me that was the only thing I could think of. Were Pokemon Experts supposed to be on the same level as an Elite Four member? Or did Director Lem just assume things?
“I’m more than willing to assist, Director. Don’t worry. The League has given the full go ahead for cooperation,” Malva said, a bit of a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.
“Excelent,” the Director said with a smile, and then his attention turned towards me, and his expression soured. “Now, then. Jason.”
“Yes?” I replied with the most innocent tone I could manage.
“I would like to apologize for how the case between you and Wulfric was handled. However, I would like to request in the future that you be more cooperative.” It seemed that cooperation was the Director's favorite word.
“That will highly depend on circumstances,” I said slowly, watching the way his eye twitched. “In this case, there was no request made of me. I was being demanded to come and relinquish my Pokemon. I was treated as a villain.”
“You went rogue,” the Director said, clearly trying to keep his composure. “You should have complied and turned yourself in.”
“So that you could steal my Pokemon, just like ex-Director Yellow attempted?” I said, my tone quite a bit colder than it had been. “You of all people should know how that ended.”
“Are you threatening me?” he spit through gritted teeth. The two bodyguards shifted, but I didn’t move.
I just smirked at him. “Oh it’s not a threat. I don’t make threats. All I’m doing is stating facts.”
“You are not allowed to have that egg!” he shouted, slamming his hand down on the table. Clearly he was too pissed off to keep his composure.
“What egg?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “I thought this was about my mythic?”
His eye was twitching really bad now. “The Fennekin egg that you stole!”
My brow furrowed. “Stole? I never stole any egg,” I said calmly, folding my hands in front of me on the table.
“All of the eggs from that Delphox are Association property,” he managed, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down. His face had gotten quite red.
“So you are saying that you wanted me arrested because I hypothetically stole a theoretical egg that you say that you own?” I asked with a bit of a frown.
“We know you have it,” he practically snarled. “We knew that Delphox was close to laying, and we received Ranger Ezekiel’s report that you took the egg, despite his protests.” He was jabbing his finger towards me.
They really wanted this damn egg. But I wasn’t about to let them take Alma. “Okay, I think that’s enough,” I said with a sigh, and shook my head. “You’re not getting that egg. The Mother asked me to take care of it - to take care of her child - and I am not about to hand them over to you. Especially with how you’ve been acting.”
The room went silent, and there was a certain tenseness that had been creeping in as I spoke. The Director sat up a bit straighter. “You-”
“Ah, before we continue.” I put up my hand to stop him. “Allow me to introduce you to a new friend of mine who I think should be part of this conversation. Mewtwo?”
The sudden pressure of Mewtwo’s arrival caused several people to shift backwards. “Yes?” they asked, looking around the room curiously. The only one who didn’t shy away was Malva, who just looked amused.
“Mewtwo? Allow me to introduce you to the new Director,” I said as I gestured at the bald man. I could see the sweat forming across his forehead. “Director Lem, allow me to introduce you to Mewtwo. Although I’m fairly certain you are well aware of them.”
Mewtwo shifted, standing behind me. They were clearly uncomfortable around so many humans. I reached back, offering my hand to them. They placed their fingers against the palm of my hand rather than grasping it. It was an odd little thing that they did. They didn’t want to be grabbed, or be touched, but over the past few days I had found that they find comfort in touching.
“I have been asked by the Jenny’s to help acclimatize them to the world and its laws and rules.” It was probably overkill to bring Mewtwo out in this situation, but I didn’t feel like arguing with them. Sometimes it’s better to just show your hand and make your opponent fold. “Now then, Director. Is there anything else you wanted to discuss?”
I could feel Mewtwo drawing little shapes on the palm of my hand. Honestly they were adorable. Clearly mentally stunted, but that wasn’t their fault. And we were all working to help them. Of course, no one in this room aside from Malva knew that if a fight were to break out, Mewtwo would probably Teleport away.
It was several moments before the Director seemed to recollect himself. “No. I was going to bring up the subject of the Mewtwo, but I see you have taken the initiative and are already working on that.”
My eyes flicked to the two bodyguards for a moment before I nodded and stood up. “Then I will be taking my leave. I don’t like this place.”
Malva also stood up. “I think this meeting is over, so I’ll be leaving as well,” she said with a big smile on her face.
“Thank you, Mewtwo,” I said softly to the feline. “You can go.”
They nodded, looking around the room for a moment. It was apparent they were a little confused at what was going on, but I had explained that they can always ask me questions. And I knew they were going to have a lot of questions for me later. In the next instant they were gone.
As I left, I was aware that Gaston tried to follow but was told to stay. Someone who was also told to stay, but blatantly ignored the order, was Malva. She hooked her arm around mine as she practically dragged me out of the building. We got quite a few weird looks, but Malva ignored them.
When we got outside, she sighed. “Bastards have been interrogating me for the last two hours,” she said before letting out an even heavier sigh. “And it’s not like it’s anything new. I literally told the League everything I knew, and they put it in a file and sent that to the Association. And-” I tuned her out as she went on a rant. A rant that lasted all the way to where she was taking me, which was a cafe. She dragged me inside, and stopped her tirade just long enough to order some sort of ridiculous sounding mocha drink before turning to me. “You want anything?”
I stared at her a moment before turning to the barista, who looked absolutely star struck at the fact Malva, the Elite Four member and one of the best known news reporters was in front of her. “Just a hot chocolate,” I said after a moment of thinking it over.
The barista nodded and Malva paid before I even realized, and then dragged me over to a table near a large window. Finally she let me go as she sat me down, and sat down across from me. Suddenly it was very quiet between us, and the only noise was the subtle sounds of the cafe.
As I sat back, folding my hands on my lap I turned my attention outside. It hadn’t snowed in the last few days, but everything was still covered. It created quite a nice scene. “I’ve always liked the snow,” I said after a while of silence.
Malva made a slight noise as she looked outside the window, “Mmm. It is rather pretty.”
I nodded. “It is.”
A few more seconds of silence passed before Malva spoke again, “How did you know?”
“I know everything,” I said with a bit of a smirk. She let out a scoffing noise, shaking her head. But I continued, “There’s a lot of things that I know that I’m not supposed to. And it’s a lot of stupid nonsense of why I know what I do. But I’m not infallible. Not a Psychic. Nor am I some sort of prophet. Just someone to not provoke.”
She snorted, leaning back in her chair. “You’ve got that right. And Lysandre learned that the hard way. Or should I say Xerosic learned it the hard way.”
“What about the other scientists? Aliana, Bryony, Celosia, and Mable?” I asked, curious.
“They’re trying to get amnesty. Xerosic threw them to the wolves in order to escape,” Malva said with a sigh. “And both the League and Association are considering it. Four of Team Flare’s top scientists? Hard to pass that up.”
I nodded slowly. “I would probably do it. Though I’d have them under heavy watch… I’m guessing Xerosic got away?”
She was about to answer, but the Barista came over, placing down our drinks. “Here you go, Malva. Choca Matcha Sour Berry Mocha,” she said with a big smile. “And a hot chocolate for you, sir.”
“Thank you,” I said with a smile as I pulled the cup towards me.
“Thanks so much,” Malva also gave her thanks, eagerly taking the cup in an almost giddy manner. “This is why I love this coffee chain. I don’t usually come to this one, because it’s so close to the Association. But there’s one in League City and I am there all the time.”
I chuckled a bit as the barista retreated.
It was silent for a moment before Malva sighed. “But to answer your question… Yes. Xerosic was one of the people who got away. Fucking psychopath…”
“What’s your history with him?” I asked, waiting for my drink to cool.
“None. I avoided him as much as possible. Guy gave me the creeps. Always leering… Claimed he was ‘examining me for potential energy’ or some nonsense. Didn’t explain why the only people he ever examined seemed to be women.” She shuddered.
“Ugh. That’s worse than I thought… But good to know that I have to watch out for him, is there-” I was interrupted by my phone ringing. My brow furrowed a bit. “Sorry, one moment.” It wasn’t a number I recognized, but when I answered it I saw a very familiar face. “Nurse Joy?”
“J-Jace? Oh thank goodness.” She let out a sigh and the lights behind her flickered and went out. “Evelyne gave me your number, and said you could help.” The lights kicked back on.
“What happened?” I asked, sitting up a bit straighter.
“While we were going through the Team Flare Pokemon, we came across a Rotom from the laboratory…” she explained as he looked around.
“Oh shit,” Malva said as she stood up. “We only have one Rotom and it’s extremely unstable. Xerosic practically tortured the poor thing.”
I stood up as well, grabbing my hot chocolate as the two of us rushed outside. “You’re a Joy in one of the Lumiose Pokecenter, right?” That was where they had been doing most of the sorting.
She nodded. “We’re the Eastern Pokecenter,” she confirmed.
“Lucky that we’re in Lumiose then,” I said as I reached into my coat and pulled Scoly’s pokeball, releasing her. Technically riding Pokemon aren’t allowed, but who cares. I don’t have a car.
Scoly immediately tensed, facing off against Malva who quickly put up her hands. “You-”
“It’s okay, Scoly,” I said as I jumped up onto the bug. “Malva is on our side, remember?”
She huffed before turning away. “Where are we going?”
“Eastern Pokecenter,” I said as I pointed in the direction.
“I’ll meet you there,” Malva said with a bit of a forced smile as she looked at the massive Scolipede. However, the large bug didn’t care about her words and used her rear antenna to hook under Malva before she started to run. The woman made quite the undignified noise of surprise as she was suddenly hoisted onto the bug horse.
I laughed. “Guess she decided you’re coming with us!” I called out, still laughing as Malva struggled to cling onto Scoly. She wasn’t even going as fast as possible, but Malva was still screaming for her to slow down.
Of course, she didn’t listen and we quite quickly made it to the Pokecenter. Even from outside I could see the flickering lights, and the door snapping open and closed. Scoly didn’t even hesitate, though I wished that she had, as she barreled through the door and smashed them in.
The entire room froze as several Joy’s and other people stared at the massive Pokemon. “Scoly, what the hell?” I said with a sigh as I got down off her back. “Did you have to take out the door?”
She seemed to sag and had the decency to look embarrassed. “Sorry…” she muttered as she lowered her head.
I sighed as I rubbed between her horns. “Sorry about her,” I said to the nearby Joy’s. “She got a bit too excited… Do we know where the Rotom is?”
There were a few moments of silence as everyone just stared at me before one Joy burst out from the back. “Jace! You’re here! Come on, we’re pretty sure it’s somewhere back in the generator room.”
With a nod, I returned Scoly, which dropped Malva to the floor. I had forgotten she was there. Thankfully, she landed on her feet. She dusted herself off as we both followed the Joy. “That was horrifying. How can you do that without a saddle?”
“Got used to it I guess?” I replied with a shrug. “At least she didn’t sprint.”
She looked at me incredulously. “She can go faster than that?”
“That was her jogging speed,” I answered with a nod. “She can go faster, and even faster than that if she uses Extreme Speed, but we haven’t tested how well that works when she’s acting as a mount.”
“A Scolipede with Extreme Speed? That’s terrifying…” Malva muttered.
“That’s why she’s part of my battle team,” I said with a smile as Joy opened a door, and we all nearly got fried by electrical bolts when she did.
I grabbed Nurse Joy by the back of her top and dragged her back away from the danger. She let out a noise of surprise, but quickly backpedaled into the two of us when she registered what was going on.
I looked at Malva. “I don’t have any ground types.”
Malva shook her head. “Me either. I’m a fire type specialist.” I knew that, but I was still hoping she might have something.
Looking from her to the door, which wasn’t sparking anymore, I let out a sigh. “Alright. Well, I’m gonna try and not get fried then…” I muttered as I rather unceremoniously shoved Nurse Joy into Malva and approached the door.
The room was dark, the lights blown out from the looks of it, but I could see the several large generators from the sparks.
“Can we talk?” I called out into the room, pulling away from the opening so that I wasn’t a target. I looked back at Nurse Joy. “Where’s it’s pokeball?” I hissed as quietly as I could.
She shook her head. “It… It didn’t have one. It was in some sort of weird computer. But when we tried to communicate with it, it freaked out.”
I had a frown on my face as I peeked back into the room. There were less sparks now, but it hadn’t responded. “You’re not in trouble,” I said, softening my tone. “But if you break these generators a lot of Pokemon are going to get hurt.”
The room sputtered into darkness as the sparks stopped. I shifted more, putting myself into a more vulnerable position so that it could get a better look at me from wherever it was. Thankfully it didn’t attack.
Slowly, I sat down in the doorway, doing my best to telegraph my moves. “My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace. Do you have a name?” My eyes were scanning the dark room, trying to catch a glimpse of the little electric ghost. When I spotted it peeking out from beneath a generator I didn’t stare and instead pretended I hadn’t seen it but kept it in my peripheral vision.
It didn’t respond. Rotom’s were supposed to be very smart, so it was probably being extremely cautious. I really wished that I had Banette with me… Should carry her around just so that she can play diplomat with other Pokemon. She's proven herself oddly good at that.
“Do you know where you are?” I asked, continuing to pretend to look around. “This is a Pokecenter. It’s a safe place.”
“Safe?” came an incredibly small voice.
“Yes. Safe,” I assured softly. I made sure that it could see my hands at all times.
Slowly it came slightly out from under the generator. It would probably be pretty hard to spot if it wasn’t essentially a dim lightbulb.
“Do you want a pokebean?” I asked softly. “They’re tasty treats.” I was fairly certain that Rotom could eat pokebeans. Only the cocoon type Pokemon couldn’t eat them as far as I knew.
It looked at me curiously, and I slowly retrieved a bean from the pouch and held it out. Slowly, ever so slowly, the little thing made its way over to me. Although it was hard to actually call it small. It was actually over a foot tall. When it finally got to me, it seemed to study the bean. Leaning in, it nibbled slightly on it, contemplated what it was tasting for a fraction of a second, before it began eagerly chowing down.
A smile crept onto my face as I watched it eagerly eat. I was really just glad that it could eat. When it was done, it just seemed to stare at my hand for a moment before looking up at me. It had quite a curious expression on its face as it floated up to be eye level with me. “More?” it asked after a moment.
Now I was full on smiling, and I nodded slightly as I got out another pokebean. This one it ate a bit slower, relishing the taste of it. When it was done, it just blinked slowly a few times before yawning. Without even a word it suddenly zipped into my pocket. The same pocket I had my phone in.
A jolt of panic ran through me for a second. But when I pulled out my phone to see that it had indeed possessed the phone, I just smiled a bit and returned the device to my pocket. With a bit of a sigh, I stood back up and looked at Malva and Joy. “Welp, add this Rotom to my list of Pokemon, I guess,” I said with a chuckle.
Joy smiled a bit and nodded. “Yeah. We can do that no problem.”
“Well, that was easy!” Malva said with a laugh. “And here I was worried you were gonna get zapped.”
“Well, at least I would have been in a Pokecenter. Best place to get injured.” Malva and I laughed, but Joy just scowled at us.
“I’d prefer no one get hurt,” she said with a huff, but she had a bit of a smile on her face. “Thank for the assistance.”
“Of course. Anytime.” With that, Malva and I exited the Pokecenter.
She stopped suddenly. “Okay. Well, I’m going to go back to League City. If I don’t see you before the League Tournament, stay safe, okay?”
I looked at her a moment before laughing. “Did you forget that I’m practically living at Valerie’s gym? We’ll probably see each other a lot.”
Malva blinked. “Ah, right.” A smile formed on her face. “Well, then I’ll see you when I see you. Stay out of trouble!” she called back as she walked off.
“Not promising that,” I said with a scoff and started to make my way to the train station. “After all, I have Mega Stone plan B to initiate.”
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