I left my tent and looked around at the familiar scene. The landscape around us was waking up as the sun was starting to rise. The others were still sleeping in their tents except for Dendra, who always woke up earlier than everyone else and did a light training session with her pokemon. ‘To warm up for the day’ she explained the first night out of Violet.
Jess and Aiden woke up and we had a quick breakfast, after that we started to put our things away in our miraculous backpacks while waiting for Mawile. I put away my sleeping bag and disassembled my tent. I started to put the small amenities I had–books and electronics–in the various compartments of my backpack when a voice stopped me.
“Scott?”
I looked over my shoulder to see that Dendra was standing behind me. At the distance, I could see that she’d been in the middle of taking down her own tent, which was strange since she was always the first ready to leave. And the one that always complains about us not being ready.
“Hey?” I said, and then decided to be cheeky. “Why aren’t you ready yet? We’re losing the cool morning.”
She ignored her own words and spoke, “Can I talk to you?”
“Of course.”
The young fighting trainer walked closer, around where I stopped putting my things away, and sat down on a patch of grass.
“I think that Mawile might want to join my team.”
“I think the same.”
“Really!?” she said, surprised.
“Yes,” I said, remembering that she’d been fascinated with Dendra’s team. “She seemed interested.”
She fidget, “Well… that's the thing. I don’t know if I should catch her.”
“Why not?”
“I’m a fighting type trainer! She’s not a fighting type pokemon.”
“That’s a good reason to not take her in,” I said, “But Ress and Teddi aren’t fighting types.”
“Ress was a present I couldn’t refuse and Teddi was alone,” she said. “Not that I'm not glad to have them on my team! Regardless, two of my team are already non-fighting types, I won’t be a fighting trainer at this rate.”
“Then, as I said, that’s as good a reason as any to not catch her.”
“It is, isn't it?” she murmured.
She stayed in silence but didn’t leave, which meant that she had more to say. I turned around to watch the others as I waited for her to continue. Aiden was taking apart his expensive and complicated tent with Swablu’s help while Jess, who’d already finished, was drilling her Mantyke and Torkoal, being far kinder to the former than the latter.
“She did seem strong…”
I hummed.
“And having a fairy would be great…”
I ignored her.
“And she’s really cute…”
“She is a fairy pokemon, they’re always cute,” I agreed.
“I don’t know if I can reject her,” she said, horror written on her face as she realized that she's just a kid who likes cute pokemon. That she’s not strong enough to say no if she asked.
“To catch or not to catch,” I sighed, my arm draped over my knee, “That’s a dilemma that every trainer has to decide for himself or herself. I can’t tell you what to do or indicate a way for you to follow on this matter.”
“You can tell me about your experiences though,” she murmured slyly. “What made you catch Valley?!”
I stopped for a second and looked at her. She’d heard the story from Jess but I don’t know if I explained that part. Anyways, it was a good question.
“It was really a wise thing what you just said,” I said.
She smiled and adjusted her posture, “Thanks.”
I looked down at the pokeball lying around, near my backpack. I raised Cape’s and showed it to her, “Cape is a Heracross, a pokemon known for their incredible strength even when barely trained. A pokemon that was a staple on many accomplished bug type teams. And even beyond bug teams. Have you seen Bruno’s Heracross fight?”
She shook her head.
I nodded, “After I chose Cape to be my starter, I looked him up. It’s not one of his strongest pokemon, but after seeing that pokemon fight in a simple exhibition match I felt safe in my choice. That video acted like a blanket, or a security net, even if I had made the wrong choice and there was a more suitable option, Cape would still be a very powerful pokemon.”
“We’re talking about Valley,” Dendra reminded me, probably thinking I was just rambling as always. But as always I had a purpose.
“Do you know how many high level teams have a Cinccino?”
“No…” she said, scratching her head.
“None,” I said, and she leaned back away from me, mouth open. She’d known the story, but she didn’t know that specific information. “Not a single team that’s ever been remotely close to winning the Conference, either here or the new world, have a Cinccino. Some reached the Conference with a Cinccino but never passed the group stage. And I knew that when I captured Valley.”
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“Why then?” she murmured, knowing that a Conference Trophy was in my sights.
“Because Valley showed more courage and will than many other pokemon, despite her line not being acclaimed. It’s easy to be confident and fearless when you’re a Heracross, or a Charizard, or a Gyarados. But how many pokemon can say that they’ve stood up to a “better” line. How many Primeape can say that they stood up against a Machamp, or three Machamp? Not many I would guess. But I’d rather have a Primeape that’d fight a Hydreigon than a Machamp that won’t.”
“A Machamp can’t become a Machamp if it doesn’t like to fight,” Dendra challenged.
“Willing to fight is one thing, it's somewhat pokemon nature to try and become better, but fighting against what you perceive to be a superior opponent in every way imaginable is another. Valley jumped down a secure tree to attack three Seviper, one who was twice as strong as Cape was at the time. The smallest and weakest Minccino of her herd, and now she is stronger than all of those Minccino combined and regularly spars with a powerful Heracross. And she just began her journey.”
“So you’re saying I should catch the Mawile,” she said, nodding.
“What!?” I shouted. The suddenness made Dendra jerk back with wide eyes just like a cat. “I’m not saying that, I’m telling you my experience as you asked. What I’m saying is that I’m not interested in being the analytical trainer who catches the perfect team, but you don’t have to be me. Again, you have to find out what you want to be, if you want to catch her or not.”
“Argh…” she threw her hands into the air. “... Any more advice?”
I glanced up, trying to think more about this. Suddenly, I found some good enough advice that I guess would’ve gone over a kid’s head.
“You don’t need to treat the situation as a binary.”
“What?”
“I mean that there’s a lot more options than only two, catch or not catch. For example, you two can do a trial, she can travel with you for the rest of the year and if one of you doesn't like it then you can just return here and release her.” She didn’t seem convinced, so I tried to frame it better. “You can still be friends even if you release her, just not trainer and pokemon.”
Dendra seemed to think for a bit and then smiled. Her body took on a sudden energy that wasn’t there before. She pushed herself up and pumped her arms.
“Yep, that helped a lot,” she said and began to walk towards her team. “Thanks Scott.”
I waved her off and finished putting away my things. Not ten minutes passed and Mawile came out of the forest, and she brought another pokemon as promised, but not a fairy.
There was a collective gasp as the pokemon following her was a Duskull. I was surprised by the coincidence of having just talked about the pokemon, but then shook off that idea. The white mask and grey spectral body reminded me that we were closer to Ecruteak, and there was a reason that they had Gym Leaders who were ghost type trainers for a long while now.
The Mawile stopped and presented the ghost with a raised arm, she was smiling proudly. And one by one we understood that she thought that he was also a fairy, like her.
“That’s not a fairy pokemon,” Aiden finally said. To the complete shock of the Mawile, who stared closely at the floating body beside her.
“It doesn’t matter, Aiden!” Jess hissed as she marched towards the surprised pokemon and crouched down in front of him. “Hi, my name is Jess, are you interested in traveling the world? Or maybe battling?”
The Duskull ignored her as he turned to Mawile, who was ignoring the two in favor of staring at Dendra.
The fighting type trainer got the message and let out her entire team, three of them standing near her while Chopper strode forward and took his familiar fighting stance; open palms, one in the front and one pulled back. Jess slogged away from Mawile, Duskull in tow. After she stopped near us the match started.
Chopper normally waited for Cape to move, but this time the massive pokemon rushed forward, his steps booming the ground. Mawile dashed forward to meet him in the middle. Chopper threw a powerful palm down and the steel type ducked to the side. The earth exploded behind the Mawile as she smashed her tail into Chopper’s head. The pokemon didn’t even flinch, he just turned around and raised a hand, grasping the small pokemon.
Aware that she cried of pain yesterday, the Hariyama just lowered her to the ground and imprisoned her on the floor with his massive hand, even as her horns flayed and snapped widely, trying to bite him but with no range.
A full minute later, Dendra walked up to the two of them and Chopper stood up, freeing the steel type, “Are you okay?”
“Ma,” Mawile answered as she just laid there looking up.
“There’s no shame in losing to Chopper, he’s really strong you know.”
Mawile sat up and glared at Dendra, before pointing at Chopper and making signs that I recognized as asking for a rematch.
“We would really like that,” Dendra said, ignoring Chopper’s snort, “but we’re leaving right now. We’re going to Ecruteak.”
“Mawile!?” The pokemon stood up and shook her head.
“Yes, we’re just passing by…”
“Ma?” Mawile said, and her entire body dropped. She looked at the two of them one and then helplessly towards Duskull. The ghost waved his hand, indicating that they should go. The fairy nodded sullenly and started to follow him to the forest.
Dendra seemed to have a full on panic attack that made Chopper look worried. She seemed like she wanted to bite her nails, rip her hair out, and start tapping her foot all at the same time, until she finally came up with a decision.
“Unless…”
Mawile froze and looked over her shoulder at Dendra.
“I’m a fighting type pokemon trainer,” Dendra said, she waved at her team, showing them off. “I-I can’t promise what I can’t give completely, like a permanent place in my team or anything like that since I don’t know if you’re going to fit in with the group, but I liked you a lot, enough to offer a deal. How about that?”
Mawile turned around, interested.
“How about you travel with us? It doesn’t need to be permanent, and if you don’t want to stay with us, you don’t need to, we’ll come back sometime and leave you right at this spot if you don’t want to stay–”
Dendra was cut by a sudden lunge from Mawile that ended up being a hug. Air came out of Dendra as she relaxed into the embrace. I smiled as I saw that neither I nor anyone around was worried that it was an attack.
“Okay, okay,” Dendra said, leaving the hug. She grabbed a pokeball from her backpack. “Are you ready?!”
The steel type hesitated and glanced back at the Duskull near the treeline. The pokemon fully turned to her in the air and got closer, took a hand from his back and patted her head three times with his spectral, but solid, grey hand. He turned away without hesitation and floated away to the forest.
“Don’t you want to go with her? I have a spot on my team for a ghost?” Jess said, trying one last time. Duskull ignored her.
Mawile looked sad as the ghost fully disappeared, but turned around and nodded at the pokeball. Dendra nodded back and lighty threw the pokeball. Mawile raised a hand and hit it, and was promptly drawn into the small object in a flash of red.
Dendra grabbed the pokeball as soon as it stopped moving and released her. They hugged again before Dendra continued her packing. This time it was different, she had a fifth pokemon helping her, a steel and fairy type.
-
It was late when we reached Ecruteak City. The city was dark, and as a welcoming gift from the old city, it started to rain.
Usually, we stayed in the Pokemon Center closest to the Gym, but this time the rain forced us into the one closest to the east entrance. The heavy rain that didn’t seem like it was going to end anytime soon decided for us, we’d be staying here for the duration of our stay in the old city. I did as usual; talked with the Joy in charge, got the key to our small room and settled our things down before going to take a shower.
After I left the bathroom already dressed, I noticed that there was a black letter on my bed. I sat down and read it, it was also in black paper, written with white letters.
It was a letter from Gym Leader Morty, an invitation to meet with him in front of the Burned Tower.
Supporters: Marco, First drunkren immortal, TaakeTheNoble, nicoxyz, AJ, Jamie Kilday, Drew K, Kcx1, Dustin, Allute, JM, Wombato, My name is Klondike, Justin, Yona Ksr, Cameron DuBose, balder harbo, Cody Adam Carroll, Taylor C Stewart, Blaze, Halleffy Santos, Dirk Gent Lee, QuakDoktor, iDogei, AJ Schillinger, Kolerog, Omega, Thomas Hendrix, Ash, Pedro Eugenio de Lima, Earthy, Lirannasja, Tom, Joel Artes, David Lawson, cricketswarm, Durnam Davis, kyle hirshson, WeepingDragon, Joshua Gray, Dylan Cope, Luke Scoggin, Shatter, ABU-UBAYYAH SALLAU ABA-HURAYRATA, Docnox, AkisP, B1w2c3, Crimson.
Teams:
Scott Wood:
Cape/ Heracross: Tackle, Harden, Leer, Fury Attack, Endure, Arm Thrust, Aerial Ace, Horn Attack, Counter, Brick Break, Pin Missile, Rock Tomb, Vacuum Wave.
Jungle/ Ivysaur: Growl, Tackle, Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, Bullet Seed, Leech Seed, Power Whip, Poison Powder, Sleep Powder, Sunny Day, Seed Bomb, Acid Spray, Trailblaze.
Mesa/ Baltoy: Harden, Mud-Slap, Rapid Spin, Sand Attack, Confusion, Sand Tomb, Dig, Psybeam, Rock Tomb, Rock Slide, Double Team, Ancient Power.
Valley/ Minccino: Pound, Baby-Doll Eyes, Echoed Voice, Charm, Sing, Play Rough, Swift, Mud-Slap, Dig, Bullet Seed, Trailblaze, Thunder Wave.
Mountain/ Cryogonal: Bind, Ice Shard, Rapid Spin, Icy Wind, Mist, Slash, Body Slam. Take Down, Substitute, Night Slash.
-
Dendra Navarro:
Chopper/ Hariyama: Tackle, Feint, Arm Thrust, Fake Out, Whirlwind, Detect, Force Palm, Focus Energy, Sand Attack, Bulk Up, Mud-Slap, Mud Shot, Swift.
Cross/ Hawlucha: Tackle, Hone Claws, Wing Attack, Detect, Aerial Ace, Feather Dance, Encore, False Swipe, Swift,
Ress/ Krokorok: Power Trip, Leer, Sand Attack, Hone Claws, Sand Tomb, Scary Face, Bite, Torment, Dig, Swagger, Sandstorm, Mud Shot, Mud-Slap, Rock Tomb
Twirl/ Tyrogue: Rapid Spin, Tackle, Fake Out, Swift, Feint, Detect.
Teddiursa: ?
-
Jess Brin:
Quake/ Hippopotas: Tackle, Sand Attack, Bite, Yawn, Sand Tomb, Dig, Crunch. Sandstorm, Take Down, Rock Smash, Mud-Slap, Rock Tomb, Bulldoze, Rock Slide,
Velocity/ Staravia: Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Swift, Aerial Ace, Whirlwind, Acrobatics, Air Cutter, Swift, Agility
Blade/ Zangoose: Scratch, Leer, Fury Swipes, Quick Attack, Metal Claw, Hone Claw, Slash, Power Trip, Agility, Rock Tomb, Icy Wind
Wave/ Mantyke: ?
Soot/ Torkoal: ?
-
Aiden Hagashi:
Gyarados: Splash, Tackle, Bite, Ice Fang, Crunch.
Gyarados: Tackle, Twister, Whirlpool, Ice Fang, Brine, Scary Face, Waterfall, Crunch.
Swablu: Peck, Growl, Fury Attack, Round, Take Down, Protect, Aerial Ace, Dragon Breath, Dragon Pulse, Agility.
Horsea: Water Gun, Smokescreen, Focus Energy, Water Pulse, Twister, Agility, Dragon Breath, Agility.
