Kapitel 11: Sewers II

"Chiki! Come on man, get up!" Dust sprinted to his partner and felt over his body. The purple gas was escaping from the blood he had leaked as well as most of Chiki's orifices. "Come on. Come on!"

Dust was using Observe over and over again, looking all over Chiki's body, but he still couldn't find anything apart from what he had already been getting.

"Damnit Chiki, why didn't you give up?"

Species: Paras (Ironshroom Variant)

Type: Bug/Grass/ (Semi)Steel

Ability: Metal Shroom (Increases defense proportional to the size of the Mushroom on Paras)

Sex: Male

Level: 12

Bond: Dust (+1 Fight Potential, +1 Luck Potential)

Basic Moves: Scratch (2⭐), Screech (3⭐), Absorb

Low-Mid Moves: Leech Life, Metal Claw (2⭐), Stun Spore

After Dust kept observing so many times using both his move Observe and by physically looking over Chiki himself, Dust felt his energy nearly gone from his body. Observe was using up his massive well of energy at insanely high speeds.

"Dammit, I'll find out what's wrong with you and make you better for sure, Chiki!"

HP: 4/62

Current Status: Poisoned Lightly (Unknown Poison), Hallucinating, Relaxed, Near Death

Dust finally reacted positively, retrieving both pokemon into Pokeballs. Grimer left hers of her own will after the Pokeball counted her as caught. "I can help you out of here, if you want me to. I know all of the passages out, and there's a shortcut where we could grab my treasure on the way out."

After thinking for a moment, he replied. "No, I have faith in Chiki. His poisoning status has mostly dissipated now, so we'll continue on without him. I came down here to make the two of us stronger, and I plan to have a good gift for him when he wakes up. We'll get your treasure on the way out."

Grimer's eyes widened. "You would go that far?"

"Hah! I'd go to the end of the Earth for our power. Don't compare the others down here that you've known all your life with Chiki and me." His eyes glimmered.

Both Dust and Grimer then continued through the sewers, checking for any clogs or useful items.

The walls and whole area nearby were black, and Dust could only see because he had a flashlight. Grimer had vision that allowed her to see further even when the light was limited, only a bit that was streaming in from the manholes above.

The sewers were also rather large, which makes sense considering the size of the Stronghold in town. However, this meant the mission involved taking many different routes to check for clogs.

Along the journey, with Grimer's help, Dust found a purple and black stone. This resulted in him finding a couple of new abilities of his.

Species: Luckling (HP 33/34)

Type: Luck

Potential: 10/10 Luck, 4/10 Fighting, 2/10 Psychic, 1/10 Aura, 0.2 Origin

Abilities: Lucky Star (Everything works in the user's favor for six seconds (Charge time remaining: 26 days)), Origin Yearn (The more things with Origin Potential met by the user, the higher the user's Origin Potential increases)

Sex: Male

Level: 8

Bonds: Paras

Basic Moves: Boxing (3⭐)

Low-Mid Moves: Full Force Punch (2⭐), Perfect Roundhouse Kick (2⭐)

Mid Moves: Gangnam Blitz (3⭐), Full Speed Step (4⭐)

Top Moves: Observe (3⭐), Block Observation (4⭐)

Current Status: Concerned, Alert

He gained a new ability somehow, probably after meeting Pikachu, though he didn't know what Origin Potential actually did for him. Also, he now had three Observe stars.

Although Dust was unsure exactly what they did for him, he knew he could observe things more accurately, with a lot of ???s showing exactly what they are rather than just question marks. He could also see Partial Types, Move Stars, HP, Current Status, and observe items.

Designation: Dusk Stone

Purity: 1/10 (Purity lost because of Poison Semityping)

Type: Dark/Ghost/ (Semi)Poison

Effect: Causes evolution of certain pokemon; formed in dark areas over long periods of time

With the assistance of his newest pokemon, Dust had found a Dusk Stone with minimal potential. The existence of all evolution stones, Fire, Dawn, Shiny, Ice, Sun, Thunder, Water, Leaf, Moon, and even Oval Stones, was restricted to the general public, and as all but the Thunderstone and Shiny Stone were relatively indistinct, they were usually just considered pretty rocks.

Thus, pokemon like Honchkrow, Delcatty, Raichu, and Cinccino were all unknown to many people, and those who found out about them were told that they were League Secrets.

However, because of Dust's past life and Observe ability, he knew the value of the Dusk Stone and pocketed it, planning to sell it away for massive amounts of money.

The two were able to move through the area faster than Paras and Dust had as Grimer didn't mind moving through the sewage, and finally, they made it to the end of Area 22 after around an hour, leaving two hours for the next two Areas.

This meant they had to move quite a bit faster for those areas. After reaching Area 23, Dust checked on Chiki quickly, finding the poison to be all but gone, though Chiki was pretty much unable to move, talk or think, trying to recover from critical condition on his own.

Grimer was also low on HP, but slowly recovering, already back to moving at top speed. "Say, what's your name, anyway? I can't really go around calling you Grimer. That would be weird."

"I don't actually have one, sorry to say." She mumbled, searching in an especially deep puddle of shit.

"Well," Dust thought for a moment, "why not choose one? I mean, there's no way you want to be called 'Grimer' for the rest of your life, right?'

Grimer fidgeted as she searched. "Why don't you pick one for me? I've always sucked at that sort of thing, you know."

"Xena." Dust replied quickly. "I would say Xena is a good name for you."

Grimer tested it out a few times, "Xena. Xeeeeenah. Xenuhhhh. Xena! I like it! Thanks, Dust."

"No problem."

The two carried on, Chiki feeling good enough to walk around once they arrived in Area 24, and soon enough, the four were turning around to go back to Grimer's main home.

Since they had already passed through the area before, Dust decided to check his inventory.

In the cheap bag he got at league headquarters, he had four spare Pokeballs apart from his own pokemons', ten League Balls, which were to be used only if he was planning on selling or giving the pokemon to the league, the gloves he was wearing, a Dusk Stone, the clothes on his back, his Trainer ID, his E-Rank League Membership Card, a dirty spiked whip, a flashlight that was already dead, and a copy of the contract he signed with the military.

Almost all of this was gotten at the league headquarters for free as something of a sign-on bonus or in the sewers himself.

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Flashback:

When Dust walked forward to the League Headquarters Main Office to tell them he was accepting the mission, he was given a very brief seminar about information he needed.

"So when you accept a mission, you'll need to come forward to this counter and let the receptionist know. It will usually not be this crowded, but today is actually the day when monthly missions are reset, so a lot of people showed up."

The receptionist wasn't kidding. People were all over the place, red, green, purple haired boys, girls, and otherwise, Pikachu, Pidgey, and even Squirtle riding their shoulders.

The room was already massive with multiple stories, but still full of people, Ranked G-B. Higher ranked individuals were in bigger, more rewarding cities like Veridian.

The white walls were starting to feel rather suffocating despite the receptionist only saying two sentences, but she continued.

"On the third floor through the sixth floor, we keep resources to give to new League members and members who rank up, with each rank receiving a bonus of things like pokeballs, weapons, and even League Secrets. As you are Rank E at the moment, you will only have a choice few items, but starting at Rank D, you will be rewarded much more."

She wasn't lying. He got 5 pokeballs, 10 league balls, a choice of a weapon, a new backpack, gloves, and a flashlight with no battery life left.

He also wanted to pick up his Oran Berry, but never got the chance, having picked the mission before he could get it.

"The floors above the sixth floor and below the first floor are training rooms and stores with more valuable items. We don't mind telling you this as nobody has any chance of ever stealing anything from it."

Throughout the past few minutes as the receptionist led him around the different floors, the two moved in awkward silence. Except for when she told him important information, of course.

The tour ended when she led him back down to the first floor to give a brief explanation about how missions work.

"Now, you probably already know this, but I am required by law to give a brief explanation about how missions work, and then a small amount of information about pokemon in general. Research shows that this information can save lives."

Dust already had guessed a lot of the information from his Observe system, but this confirmed a few things.

Other experts in the world had the Observe "move" as well. This is why he wasn't as shocked later when the mayor had it as well.

"Pokemon have six major stats: HP, Attack, Defense, Speed, Special Attack, and Special Defense. Your Paras, for example, is mainly based around attack with some defense, but is slow and weak to special attacks, especially fire. Trainers are recommended to build their pokemon teams with this in mind, with one pokemon for each stat."

Dust was already aware of all this as a huge pokemon fan, but his plan was not to base his team around stats, but whatever had the highest potential and best ability, since there were so many new abilities in this world, both of his pokemon being variants from what was considered normal in his old world.

In this world, variants were still considered rare, but nowhere near as rare as a shiny was in the games. On average, one in three trainers had a variant in their party. Simultaneously, variants don't necessarily mean increased strength like Gary thought.

On average, variants can reach a rank equal to 2 higher than the normal Pokemon, that was true. However, this is not because of having different typing or abilities, rather because both parents have to have fully explored their potential for their children to become variants, as he had learned earlier. The parents having hit their limit, the children's' potential is increased.

Next, the receptionist explained abilities. There are thousands, most having been documented, even Chiki's, though the Iron Shroom ability was actually first discovered in an Amoonguss, not Paras.

Continuing down the line, Chiki was already aware of everything except move information. It was actually rather simple.

Moves were split into seven categories by the League. Trash, Low, Mid-Low, Mid, Mid-High, High, then Top. Top moves are incredibly strong, often having effects beyond mortal power, with Observe being a weaker example, and Roar of Time being near the top even amongst the Top Moves.

Lastly, the receptionist explained bonds. Bonds are completed between one pokemon and one human when their blood intermingles and the two have a relationship that is considered "close enough" by their blood.

This is another reason Dust and Grimer didn't bond immediately. Dust didn't think the two were really close enough. Not to mention they were both still Rank 1.

However, Dust was still ill prepared for going to the sewers, so he also got a map.

End Flashback

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"Did you have to lose my world map AND the sewer map back in the deepest puddle of sewage?" Dust stared at Xena. "Speaking of, I have to report that the floor is broken there..."

Xena had indeed dropped the map. "Well it wasn't exactly intentional, ya know! Besides, I know the way out, so no worries! We're almost all the way back to my secret area!"

"Hey, could you two pay attention?" Chiki, who was back on Dust's head spoke up for the first time in a while. Dust

They had finished exploring and seen pretty much nothing apart from what he had inventoried earlier. Now, the trio was on their way back to Xena's hideout to take her "treasure" and announce the mission as completed.

However, as they entered her room, they heard a voice from above them. "Yo, ya finally came back, eh, Clean Freak?"