Chapter 27: Chapter 25: Forest Times
Ark and Sylph camped out in the forest for the first time. Although it was not nearly as comfortable as a bed and secure room, he had no real complaints about it. There were slight noises from the nocturnal Pokemon, however there was nothing that had physically disturbed their sleep.
He woke up early in the morning and shook Sylph awake. Sylph tried to snuggle back into the sleeping bag but was denied the chance as Ark put it away in his Pocket Storage.
"Come on, we need to start training a bit before breakfast. Then we can head deeper into the Viridian Forest, hopefully there will be something interesting in there."
Sylph stretched her arms up high before nodding and leaving the tent. While she may hate training, Sylph did like the idea of becoming really strong alongside Ark, at least that way she will be able to laze around more.
Ark stored the tent into his Pocket Storage before bringing out two separate meals. One full bowl of Pokemon food while the other was a couple of apples. He preferred to eat light in the morning as well as try to maintain a slightly healthier diet with fruit in the mornings. Due to this, he often ends up getting very hungry just before lunchtime rolls around.
"Sylph, there's some food here for you. Finish up with your training and come have a rest"
Hearing the word 'food', Sylph immediately stopped her sidesteps and darted to the bowl of food. Ark was surprised by the speed of Sylphs movements. Despite seeing her training, he was still shocked to see the lazy Sylph who only started training yesterday, run at a speed that would allow her to outmaneuver quite a few Pokemon.
"I guess Sylph always had the potential for this speed, even now, it's just her innate laziness and my lack of training her that stunted her usage of it"
For the first time in his relatively short life, Ark regretted not training Sylph. Chasing away those thoughts, Ark started to eat his apple as he looked into the distance.
The forest was dense, full of green plants growing sporadically without a single inhibition. The trees had thick stumps and long roots that pierced the surface of the ground.
As Ark stared at the forest, an expression of reluctance emerged on his face. The thought of having to trek through that forest was not appealing in the slightest. Not to mention the fact that this Viridian forest was home to a multitude of bug type Pokemon. While he did not have any sort of fear towards these types of Pokemon, he could not say that he enjoyed being surrounded by them. Ark found certain bug pokemon to be really cool, however the majority of them gave him many mixed emotions.
Eventually, Sylph finished her Pokemon food and sat down for a short rest. Ark had decided that he will make Sylph walk alongside him, after all, these long walks and rough terrain will do wonders for her stamina. He realised that she was a very fast Pokemon and would only get faster, however what was the point of being fast if it can only be handled for a short period of time before she needed a rest.
Of course when Sylph heard his decision, she glared at Ark before turning to face away from him and ignoring his attempts to soothe her. Unable to bear the thought of being ignored by Sylph for even a second longer, Ark had to pick her up and stroke her hair until she was satisfied. The little Pokemon sat still and accepted the strokes as she tried to conceal the bliss she was feeling from showing on her face. It took a few minutes but Sylph hugged Ark as a display of forgiveness.
-Nnn Sylph will walk, but Ark needs to give Sylph more dinner-
Ark smiled wryly at the demanding Sylph before nodding his head. He had extra Pokemon food in his Pocket Storage so the request was fine. It was only his own food that he was lacking, so Ark could only curse his failure to plan ahead of time.
With their deal struck, Ark and Sylph head in the direction of Pewter City whilst pushing away all of the foliage. The reason Ark decided to go in the same direction as Ash was due to him wanting to not stray to far from potential quests. Following this, there was less of a chance of Ark actually getting lost. He knew that even if he had knowledge about the events in the Pokemon anime, he was not necessarily an expert of this world. If he did not have a map, he would undoubtedly get lost and likely the Pokemon spawns he knew of were not as accurate as before. After all, a Ralts from a completely different region was found in a forest randomly. This means that there may be other roaming Pokemon about that could pose a threat to Ark and Sylph.
Their pace was fairly slow when compared to their pace traveling to Viridian City, but that was to be expected since Sylph was still quite small. This mean't that she had to climb over the roots unlike Ark who could step or jump over them. Luckily, Ark helped her climb over when she was struggling, although Sylph had refused his help on numerous occasions since she wanted to try to get over herself.
Ark was impressed and very proud of Sylph. She was pushing her limits by herself and aiming to improve, how could he not want to run into the nearest Pokemon Center and boast about his Partner. As he watched Sylph climbing through a thick bush, Ark decided that when they arrived at Pewter City, he would have a Pokemon battle against a trainer who wasn't a gym leader. Although Ark and Sylph had battled against Team rocket, they could not really be counted as ordinary trainers. Therefore, he wanted to see how well he and Sylph stacked up against ordinary trainers. Gym leaders are usually given their role as recognition of their strength with their specific type, thus Ark thought that having Brock or whoever the Pewter City gym leader is as his first true battling experience may not be a good measurement of their strength.
Sylph finally made her way through the bush and looked up at Ark with expectant eyes.
"You're brilliant Sylph, I am so lucky to have such a hard-working partner by my side"
Ark bent down and cuddled with Sylph as he praised her.
-Sylph will do her best-
A smile crept upon his face as he stroked Sylphs hair. It was clearly evident that she was trying her best to get strong as fast as possible.
Just like this, the two of them headed deeper into the forest to find a good place to camp.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone