Chapter 51 – Facing a Friend
Larvesta shyly tried to butter up the newest addition to the team. Her and Houndour exchanged clicks and yips with each other. The bug type seemed to get along with Houndour well enough judging by the cadence of her words. Houndour seemed to realize early on in their conversation that she was communicating with a child and showed the appropriate amount of care not to upset the little tyke. I had no clue what the two were busy talking about since my usual translator seemed to be preoccupied with something else."This is weird! I can't feel her."'Houndour is a dark type, it's only natural that telepathy doesn't work on her. That trait is also what will make her a great asset to our team.'"How would I find her if she ever gets lost?"'Just use your other senses. You have a working set of eyes, and those big fluffy ears are useful for things other than relieving people's stress.'Halo and Houndour's conversation winded down and it seemed she got a good impression of our little princess and by extension the rest of the team. The Houndour waddled over to me before resting her body on my lap. Tacitly giving her approval towards being added to the team.'Rena used to do this all the time. Now she only cares to lie on my lap when nobody else is watching. Having a dog Pokémon around is going to be great.'"Arf!""That's right, you are the bestest girl!""Pix Pix!"I was busy giving my newest teammate some well deserved ear scratches when Rena decided to start pulling on my sleeve. Berating me for not paying enough attention to my older team members. I could already see the first signs of jealousy forming and now would be the best time to assuage Rena's unfounded concerns."You are right, I should start paying more attention to you and Numsy. Onboarding our new teammates has taken much of my attention but I promise that I'll make it up to the both of you starting today.""Pix…""Me and Flannery agreed to have a double battle with Phoebe. How would you like the opportunity to throw paws with one of her newly caught ghost types?""Vuuuul!"The matter of me not being able to pay enough attention to her seemed to have been resolved. I've always wondered how other trainers managed to deal with issues like these. I knew for a fact that most professional trainers had at least a dozen teammates. Six on their person and depending on their needs at the time another six or even more at a corral. I wanted to avoid becoming one of those irresponsible trainers that caught a full team and once the season was over have them be taken care of at a lab or breeding facility. Each and every Pokémon partner made a conscious choice to be the companion of the person who caught them. Having them be wined and dined but feel emotionally neglected seemed borderline abusive to me. Technically with Houndour joining the team I crossed the six Pokémon carry limit but seeing as Victini never got registered with the Hoenn league association I could probably continue as is. Drake knew about our situation and I highly doubted that he was the type of person who was a stickler for rules.Halo had somehow managed to position herself on top of Numsy's neck again. He was the only member of the team who was large enough to carry around Halo without becoming uncomfortable. Unlike many other newborn Pokémon Halo was definitely a chunker already at the size of an average raticate and she was expected to grow even bigger until she reaches the size of a medium sized donphan. I thanked my lucky stars that she was still small and cute now, but it wouldn't even take a year before she attained her full size. Pokémon on average grow up much faster than humans doubly so in the case of bug types.While I was trying to settle matters with my team, Flannery was busy rehearsing moves with her newest addition. Personally, I found it a bit foolhardy to be that confident in facing off against an ace trainer like Phoebe, with a first day capture like that Houndour, but losing didn't necessarily mean that her gambit to win his loyalty wouldn't pay off. The way I saw it, this would be an excellent chance for the both of them to discover how far they'd have to go to be counted amongst the best of the best. That was why I decided to join the duo together with my temperamental fox, leaving the rest of my team to come and get to know my own Houndour."Egon this is going to be a cinch! Houndour here knows lots of fire type moves!""Hmm that's fine and all, but make sure to not neglect his other typing. Dark type moves are particularly effective against Phoebe's Pokémon. Have you gotten a good handle on those?""Just bite right?""Ruff…""No not just bite… a Houndour of his size and experience would most definitely know beat up and taunt. Not even mentioning all the moves he managed to learn on his own. Isn't that right big guy?""Arf!""What's beat up do?"'This is going to take a while…'"Beat up is a move that most if not all dark types who live in large groupings learn naturally. The move gets more powerful the more members of your team Houndour here considers to be part of his pack. The only requirements are that they are close enough and in a conscious state. In the wild this is the most powerful move that he can learn on his own. Especially considering the size of his pack.""What?!""Since this is an unofficial battle Phoebe might slip up and let his entire pack come and watch. The resulting exchange would make for a memorable and teachable moment.""That's how we'll win! Your smarts are finally paying off Egon.""Uhm yeah sure… I wouldn't bet on an ace trainer like Phoebe not knowing how beat up works. Besides, Houndour here must have a decent repertoire of dark type moves to show us. Taunt alone would already be very helpful to try and put a stop to Phoebe's usual tactics. She isn't a straightforward battler; most ghost type specialists aren't. They like to make liberal use of status moves and pull all sorts of mental tricks to put their opponents on the backfoot. If Houndour here manages to execute a successful taunt on one of her Pokémon that would make the upcoming battle a lot easier."My advice seemed to have helped Flannery widen her perspective just a bit since she asked Houndour which other moves it had managed to learn by itself. Surprisingly he knew quite the number of moves. He first demonstrated his sound-based attacks like howl, roar and snarl and finally closed out his performance with an admirable smog attack. The only move in his repertoire that a houndour wouldn't learn naturally was snarl. Wild Pokémon rarely managed to learn moves on their own but the ones that did could be said to be at least fairly talented. The leader's performance made me look forward to finding out what my own Houndour had managed to learn during her time in the wild."I can tell what you are thinking but these puppers ain't wild Pokémon."Old man Jack came out of the building to watch Flannery and her Houndour practice moves. All the howling and snarling must have gotten him out of that rocking chair to make sure everything was on the up and up."They aren't?""Nah, we got them from a breeding facility that went bankrupt. The CEO had this lotad brained idea to have these houndour trained as security Pokémon who could stand watch at night. He didn't factor into his plans on how unpopular houndour are around these parts. Not one company or institution would take these sweethearts out of his hands. Dark types are a bit unruly by nature and by extension making them more difficult to train. The fool would've done better selling these to individual trainers, but he didn't have the heart to break them up.""I guess that makes sense. Any person would get emotionally attached to any Pokémon he has cared for since they hatched out of the egg. How is their old human doing nowadays?""That guy is a regular around here. His latest pet project is breeding Gulpin. He's been thinking of trying to sell them to factories that need an environmentally friendly way to clean up any scrap iron or harmful chemicals."'That doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. Grimer are still technically treated as an invasive species. So, there wouldn't be much competition around these parts.'Having satisfied the old man's curiosity I took Flannery aside to go over the do's and don'ts while battling against ghost types. This being the only opportunity to discuss strategy with her without any overt onlookers. I knew Phoebe well enough to know that there was always a chance that one of her teammates was spying on us, nonetheless some things had to be discussed."Flannery is bringing out her Yamask and Lampent for this fight. Since you are probably not familiar with Unovan species, let me be the one to come up with an appropriate strategy." Ten minutes later* Strangely enough the safari zone didn't have any battle facilities. So, we had to face off against Phoebe outside near the front entrance. She was standing there in the trainer's box we drew in the sand with the help of most of our teams. I recognized that look on her face, one filled with supreme confidence and a bit of glee since this was the first time the two of us actually engaged each other in battle. I always put it off with the excuse that I still hadn't received my trainer's license. Since I was now officially licensed it was only a matter of time until this happened."Are you two ready?"Instead of replying enthusiastically I gave Phoebe a non-descript grunt. High level battles all had a psychological aspect to them and I wasn't giving our more seasoned opponent any more ammunition to use against us. Flannery's reaction differed ever so slightly from my own…"Yeah! We practiced our secret strategy and are ready to beat the competition! Isn't that right Houndy?""Arf…"'Poor doggo even the nickname she's given him sounds juvenile…'"Didn't you do the same thing with Numsy?"'This and that are different! Besides, Numsy has never complained a single time about his given nickname.'"Vuuuul!"Noticing that I was distracted Rena gave me a warning to stay focused on our upcoming battle. She was responsible like that although there was a hint of trepidation on her face at the prospect of having to participate in a double battle with Flannery."Come on out you two!"Phoebe released her Yamask and Lampent the two Pokémon hovering over our makeshift battlefield."Egon knows these two cuties already but these two will be joining my quest to dominate the ace rankings. Any fan of mine would be totally jealous of you two for getting a premier scoop like this.""Yaaa!"Yamask recognizing me gave me an excited wave of his shadowy hand. It was good to see Phoebe hadn't been able to subvert his childlike innocence. Lampent was much more stoic, ready to follow her trainer's instructions."It's good to see you too Yamask! How has Hoenn been so far?""Ya Ya!"The little ghost type gave me a thumbs up. A human gesture he must have picked up while living on Mt. Pyre."I am sure you've made lots of friends who want to play with you!""Don't get overly friendly with MY Pokémon!"Phoebe didn't appreciate me being so taken with her team member. The teenage girl didn't like sharing friends even if it was with her other friends. She had developed quite the scarcity mentality over years of being widely considered a menace to society."I am protecting him from being turned into a no-good rogue like the rest of your team! This little angel needs positive reinforcement and good role models.""My ghost friends are the perfect role models! Smart, experienced and excellent battlers.""We'll see about that… You can always stay with me if they make you do things you don't want to do, okay Yamask?""Ya!""Hmpfff! I was planning on holding back a little bit but just for that I'll give the two of you a full hazing."Old man Jack who had promised to referee our match was patiently sitting in an outdoor chair until we were done bickering with each other. Seeing as all three of us were ready to commence the battle he stood up and walked up to the sideline."This will be a modified double battle. No Pokémon substitutions are allowed by any trainer during the match. We won't keep time, the contest will thus be decided only when one of the contestants finds both his or her Pokémon are unable to battle further. Let the battle begin!" "Agility!" "Howl!""Imprison and Fake tears!" 'Imprison?! She's not pulling any punches. Once Lampent executes that move we'll be locked out of a good deal of our fire type attacks.'Imprison was a psychic type move that made an opposing Pokémon temporarily forget how to execute any shared move between the user and the target Pokémon. In double battles this was powerful since it meant both Pokémon from the opposing party no longer had access to common moves like protect or helping hand. Now I was fairly sure that Lampent, not being a psychic type and probably only having a single month to practice, would not be able to mentally block moves from a dark type like Houndour. Not even mentioning the fact that blocking higher skill ceiling fire type moves like fire spin and incinerate, which there are no technical machines for, would have required Phoebe to hire a move tutor, in this short a time frame that'd be impossible.A pink glowing hue enveloped both Rena and Houndour but just like I suspected Houndour easily shrugged it off. Sadly, the same could not be said about my vulpix. While that was going on Rena increased her speed while Houndour let loose a howl. Howl was an interesting move in that it gave an adrenaline boost to the users allies, a staple tactic for pack hunting Pokémon like houndour.'No more using protect and flamethrower basically. I can work with that.'Yamask started making crying sounds and I could even see droplets forming from its childlike mask. Its attention was mainly focused on Houndour softening up the dark type for any incoming attacking moves. With Rena's physical prowess boosted it would be a waste not to make use of her extensive move pool especially since we were locked out of using ranged fire type attacks. The only two physical moves I bothered having Rena learn were dig and flame charge seeing as her normal type attack were useless in this matchup."Flame charge!" "Bite!""Shadow Ball, Night Shade!"With pinpoint precision Phoebe's Pokémon targeted Houndour first. As a dark type he could usually weather through any incoming ghost type attacks with ease but since he was still affected by Yamask's fake tears these attacks would now damage him with their regular strength. Rena managed to collide first. Her agility boosted speed surpassing Yamask's charge up time slamming into the little ghost with a modicum amount of force. While at the same time Houndour who was busy trying to get close to Lampent for a bite attack was pushed back when the Shadow Ball slammed into him staggering the canine Pokémon by a fair bit."Rena what are you?!""Haha! Do you like that? Yamask has already been taught how to activate its signature ability!"Rena after colliding into Yamask was half wrapped into a fox burrito with a fabric that closely resembled linen. I immediately recognized what this was. Yamask and Cofagrigus only have the potential to develop one signature ability: Mummy. When making physical contact with other Pokémon they could choose to release their "curse" wrapping the other Pokémon in an ability suppressing cloth which could spread further to other Pokémon under the right conditions. Too bad for her that we didn't have her ability trained up yet, so it made no difference. She did look pretty cute all wrapped up. I reminded myself to take a few pictures once the battle was finished.'Yamask seems to be the weak link. If I could take care of him quickly, we'd be able to support Houndour against Lampent.'Somewhat reluctantly I ordered Rena to target Yamask again. In my mind liking a Pokémon became a secondary concern while in the midst of battle."Incinerate!" "Snarl!""Curse! Shadow Ball again!"My assumptions that Lampent didn't know some of the more technical fire type moves proved correct when Rena managed to unleash twirling balls of flame in the direction of the mask wearing ghost type. What I didn't expect her to do was to basically give up on her Yamask to ensure that Houndour got taken out as quickly as possible. She must have figured that Rena wouldn't be able to do anything against Lampent on her own. I've never witnessed a Pokémon making use of curse in the high level matches I frequently watched before earning my license. It was considered a low brow move trainers were loath to order their Pokémon to use curse for two reasons. In a format where switching out was allowed the move did more harm than good since the opposing trainer with the cursed Pokémon could always just recall the affected team member and secondly most trainers believed that using such a move was basically telling the world that you didn't believe your Pokémon could win on their own merit. Since this was a single elimination battle, switching out wasn't an option and Phoebe didn't particularly care what random faces in the crowds thought of her, so I wasn't surprised that she taught her Pokémon how to use this move.While my fox Pokémon let loose a barrage of fire balls Houndour combined dark type TE with his impressively strong voice box to unleash a wave of dark type energy which covered Phoebe's side of the field. Both ghosts were hit with super effective damage which also reduced their ability to perform special based attacks. Yamask having just used curse was on its last legs combined with the effective snarl and the incinerate colliding into him the ghost was done for. Yamask bravely tried to keep going but the small explosion caused by the last fireball did him in the ghost type slowly floating to ground having completely expended his energy. Meanwhile Lampent retaliated with a swift shadow ball to houndour's face. Having taken significant damage from the earlier exchange Houndour was also on his last legs."You did great Yamask return! Lampent, we'll finish this up easy.""Why you! It's now two on one no way Lampent is going to win!"As Flannery was talking smack Houndour collapsed on the ground. His energy reserves expended. Turns out only a couple of seconds under the curse was enough to knock the big guy out. Flannery, ignoring her verbal scrap with Phoebe, rushed up to the panting dog to comfort him."Ruff…!""Don't say anything! You did amazing Houndy."Flannery returned Houndour to his safari ball and ran off. Probably to pamper the big boy some more. Meanwhile it was just me against Lampent. Common sense told me I had no chance of beating this evolved fire type especially because Rena's moves were still imprisoned but I didn't want my team to adopt a quitter's mentality, so we had to push forward."This is the first time we've ever had ourselves a standoff, Egon. You ready to lose?""Rena isn't some standard vulpix you can just find anywhere. Even if the odds are against us we'll pull through!""Shadow Ball!""Dig!"Naturally my little fox was faster so before that shadow ball had a chance to slam into her, she dug a tunnel underground to escape the blast. Now the problem was Lampent are naturally buoyant using hot air to levitate from place to place. Which meant Rena would have no idea where and when to come up in order to hit the ghost type with a wallop of super effective damage."I can help with that."'No that's cheating. We'll just have to improvise somehow…'Just like that I was stuck trying to figure out what to do. Rena was positioned underground waiting for me to give her the sign to come back up. While Phoebe was impatiently staring at me.'Next time I'll have my Pokémon learn some dark type moves. For now I'll have to go all in on a gamble.'"Come out and use Fire Spin!""Vuuul!"My little fox burst out of the ground and quickly repositioned herself to unleash a torrent of flames in Lampent's direction. Strangely enough Phoebe seemed content enough to let this happen without commanding her Pokémon to defend or retaliate. When the small fire tornado hit the ghost type the flames somehow got absorbed making the eerie flame in the middle of its body glow brighter.'Lampent has already learned how to use its Flash Fire ability. That means we have no effective means to hit it while Rena is still stuck under Imprison.'"Lampy use Sha…!""We forfeit!"Before Lampent had the chance to unnecessarily harm my Pokémon I forfeited the match. Fighting for that small chance at victory was one thing but I wouldn't have Rena fight a battle where her odds at winning are zero percent."Pix?!""It's okay next time we'll be ready.""Mwuhahaha! You little kids had no chance from the start right Lampey?""Pent!"I wasn't concerned about Phoebe's fake gloating. I knew she meant well. All she was trying to do was to stoke the fires of our competitive spirits.Now that the match was over, I was eager to know if Flannery performed admirably enough to impress her Houndour. The one that I picked out for myself didn't seem all that concerned about my competency as a trainer but having Flannery's chosen partner refuse to come with her might force my own partner to remain in the safari zone out of concern for her pack mates."Everyone return!"I activated the return mechanism of my Poké balls recalling Rena and the rest of my team sans Houndour who were watching from the sidelines before walking in the direction where Flannery sped off to. By my estimations she should have returned to the safari's lounging area where the rest of the pack was dozing off. Phoebe was sensible enough to forbid the rest of the pack to come and watch our battle anticipating the beat-up shenanigans that would surely follow.After walking inside the building I spotted a distressed Flannery doing everything in her power to pamper her Houndour. The canine Pokémon had already recovered from his fainting spell and was now acting standoffish while having Flannery fussing over him. The slight wiggle in his tail was a dead giveaway to Houndour's true feelings."I know that I am still a novice as a trainer, but I'll try my best to become the toughest gym leader in the whole region! Will you please stay with me as my Pokémon Houndour?"The Houndour inspected her face for a bit before replying."Ruff…""Thank you! Thank you! You won't regret it!"Flannery proceeded to stroke Houndour's backside while I tiptoed my way around the gathering of canine Pokémon until I joined back up with my own chosen Houndour. She was busy amusedly staring at the duo who had just confirmed their bonds with each other."Pretty cute right? Flannery might be rough around the edges, but her heart is in the right place.""Arf!""Say I haven't yet had the chance to confirm your feelings but are you sure you want to travel with me and the gang? You'll be separated from your pack aside from the occasional visit to the gym.""Ruff!""Houndour wants to experience everything the world has to offer and she knows that she won't get that chance by staying with her dummies.""That's great! We'll be traveling a lot visiting all sorts of new regions and unexplored areas. We might even encounter a legendary Pokémon or two. Thank you for choosing me. Just like Flanny I don't have any intention of letting you down."Houndour gave my offered hand a quick lick before plopping down next to me content to spend our time together in peace. Some time later* "Are you two ready to go? My grandpa's Xatu is ready to pick us up.""Yes, I can't wait to see what the top of Mt. Pyre is like!""Don't get your hopes up Flannery, the view is incredible but staying there for a prolonged period of time is bad for your heart. Even Phoebe has no control over all the wild ghost types that live up on the mountain top.""Wild ghosts?! Haven't the mediums over there caught all the stray ones by now?"Phoebe was the one to answer Flannery's follow up questions."Naturally the wild ones that we keep up there know not to suck out the life force of any visitors. They are of no threat to anyone's health.""That's a lie! Even the captured ghosts that live in her family's mansion will at every turn try to scare the pants off you. Just wait and see, do not hesitate to use that cleanse tag I gave you. It will be your only defense against being harassed at night. Also do not drink out of any receptacle whose contents you have not poured in yourself. The ghosts living in the mansion like to put laxatives and hot sauce into any unattended glasses or teacups."Flannery's face grew paler with every accounting, but I didn't stop until I was sure that she knew we were about to walk into a battle zone."Xaaaa!"Looking up we saw Phoebe's family Xatu perched on a nearby tree branch. He was looking at us without any visible emotions on his face. I was the first to initiate a conversation with him."Long time no see Xatu. How are things working out on the mountain?"I felt that the bird was trying to form a mental connection with me. Seeing as we were about to meet up with my old acquaintance Xatu, I forewarned Victini to make some space in my skull cap so I could have casual conversation with the most interesting precognitive flying type that I've met so far."I stand watch over my master's roost, nothing more or less.""Hey, did my observations from our last conversation closely resemble your visions of the future?"We might have an interesting conversation on our hands.
Chapter 52 – Back Again Mt. Pyre
Xatu are an interesting species of Pokémon. Their precognitive abilities trumped those of any other psychic type. They had the ability to see past and future events with amazing clarity. Naturally all of them without a single exception completely refused to share any of their findings, not even to their trainers. Though the species as a whole agreed to loosen up some of their self-imposed rules for benign things like weather forecasting and love fortunes. Basically, anything humans could find out on their own with a little bit of effort. I managed to find a loophole in Xatu's logic by accurately predicting a handful of future events, making the bird believe I had some precognitive abilities of my own which allowed me to join their exclusive club. After joining I was quite baffled by the fact that Phoebe's family Xatu just loved gossiping about future events but couldn't partake in its favorite hobby due to the species' strict rules. Now every time the two us met up; we ended up talking about major global events.
'That giant meteoroid is still set to crash five years from now?'
"Indeed, but ever since we had that talk three years ago, events surrounding that time period have become blurred. With the falling meteor being the only constant. I must ask thee… has thou told anyone of our conversations?"
'No, although they say just a single flap of a beautifly's wing can drastically alter the course of history. Just the two of us talking about what lies ahead might have changed future events.'
I wasn't planning to elucidate Xatu on all the changes I had planned for the future. Doing that would probably get me into trouble with all the precognitive psychics the world over. For some reason or another as long as it wasn't an extinction event, they all agreed to take a hands-off approach regarding any major events. They did not want to risk derailing the world's safe future no matter how many tragic events that could have been prevented.
"Before we met it was widely agreed upon that the orbs would be stolen but now even that has come into question."
'This is all really interesting, but I think the two girls over there are starting to get impatient. I'll be staying up on Mt. Pyre for two weeks we'll have plenty of chances to catch up.'
Flannery and Phoebe were experienced enough with Psychic type Pokémon to notice the signs of mental communication. Xatu and I, staring silently at each other for a hot minute, did not pass scrutiny and they were starting to lose their patience. Especially since Xatu was supposed to be our ride to the top of Mt. Pyre.
She left six of her newly caught houndour with old man Jack counting on him to send them over with the safari's transfer machine. I myself was inclined to keep Shuckle with me until we were situated on Mt. Pyre so I could have a lengthy and private conversation with my grandparents. They didn't have a phone and I didn't want to make the girls wait until nurse Mary could get grandma out of her cookie store.
In the meantime, my newly acquired safari ball would stay minimized and inert leaving Shuckle in stasis. To discourage and prevent trainers from walking around with more than six team members the Hoenn league association kept tabs on the amount of Pokémon you had with you in real time. Since old man Jack had to register those safari balls to my person before we took off into the reserve, the league now knows how many Pokémon I have on me. When we got back to the main entrance, I had to choose whether to lock up Shuckle or Houndour's poké ball and since one of them was going to be a permanent stay on my team the choice was made obvious.
Xatu flew down from his tree branch and gracefully landed on top of the soil in front of us. The bird Pokémon assertively motioned for the three of us to hold onto one of his offered appendages. Phoebe, having grown completely comfortable with the act of teleportation, nonchalantly grabbed hold of Xatu's left wing while the two of us gingerly touched the bird Pokémon's right wing not wanting to accidentally pull out any feathers. Once the psychic type confirmed that we were all holding onto him our surroundings radically shifted from the haunted forests surrounding the safari zone to the base of Mt. Pyre. The exact same spot that me and my grandpa come to visit every year.
"Wait, why didn't Xatu take us all the way to the top!?"
"The air gets staler the higher up you go, usually the body needs time to adjust to the lack of oxygen. That's why the two of us will be climbing all the way to the top. If we get teleported there as we are right now there's a chance, we might faint from oxygen deprivation."
"About six hours by foot."
"See you two at the top! Bye bye!"
Phoebe, whose body was already well adjusted to living on top of the mountain, could just have Xatu teleport her all the way to the top without going through the hassle of climbing the mountain. By the time that me and Flannery finished up our conversation the ghost type specialist had already gotten Xatu to teleport her back home.
"Egon… All we do is walk. Isn't there some kind of elevator service?"
"I don't think so…? I have seen some of the older visitors make use of flying type Pokémon to get where they need to go. Honestly the climb is much easier compared to the one you have to do to get all the way to the top of Mt. Chimney."
"But Mt. Chimney has a cable car!"
"And Mt. Pyre has a fully paved stairway at a medium incline. Best of all, the Pokémon living here do not mess with any of the visitors that are here to pay respects to their loved ones. Besides… when we get to the upper levels, I can show you where I met Rena for the first time. Her family must still be living in the area so having her with us will surely raise the chances of you getting a Ninetales' approval."
That casual remark mollified Flannery somewhat. Now that she had gotten herself a taste of what it was like to capture a Pokémon on her own, I could imagine that she would be eager to repeat the process. Nothing beats gaining a new companion and starting the bonding process I knew that from experience.
"There are a bunch of tourist traps at the bottom and each stall has unique merchandise you can't find anywhere else in Hoenn. You want to go have a look before starting our climb?"
I acted as a guide while showing Flannery around the various stalls. The only items I was interested in were those delicious ragecandybars I bought the first time I visited this place. The stalls had a wide variety of wares for sale their most prominent products being incense and talismans Flannery didn't have much interest in the latter, but she was interested in buying some incense. While my fellow redhead was haggling with the incense seller, I couldn't help but eye up one of the many dusk stones being sold.
'I'll eventually need one for Orin but those pricings… I can't afford it. Maybe I shouldn't have bought that silver bracelet for Rena.'
"Egon! Look at what I bought! The kind saleslady says that when I light this pure incense near our camp during bedtime wild Pokémon will leave us alone."
"That's great Flanny, the quality of these products are second to none. This'll be a great investment for your own solo journey through the routes. Let's get going. I am also done looking around."
"But you didn't buy anything!"
"I was just browsing for any future purchases I am planning to make. Now that I know what they have I'll be sure to come back when I have accrued the required funds."
"If the stuff you want to buy is Pokémon training related you could always use grandpa's money."
"There's no hurry besides he's already paying for my team's supply of food. That's already more than what most sponsored trainers get."
After Flannery got done buying all the knickknacks she was interested in I led her to the mountain's grand staircase. The thousands of steps closely resembled the sceneries from those kungfu movies where hopeful initiates had to prove themselves by endlessly climbing in order to demonstrate their willpower. Naturally this staircase wasn't endless and most trainers have developed a great deal of stamina by trekking through the routes. Usually, the only ones interested in making the climb are trainers who want to catch a specific Pokémon and people who are visiting a specific grave.
"So, this whole place belongs to Phoebe's family?"
"Yeah, the Hoenn league association made a deal with her ancestors a long time ago giving her family the right to manage this place in perpetuity. With a few caveats of course."
"The mountain needs to be open for all visitors and they can't charge them entry fees. Naturally the visitors must also be kept safe from any wayward and hungry ghost Pokémon."
"How!? There must be thousands of them living here."
"The family has a bunch of old Pokémon who belonged to their lineage at some point living on the mountain. They keep the younger ghosts in check and as a matter of fact I am pretty sure Rena's mom was bonded to Phoebe's great great grandmother. Ninetales can live up to a thousand years and that's not even mentioning all the ghost types the family must have trained over the years."
Rena happily joined in on the conversation when the topic switched over to her mother.
"So… Rena's mom is actually a granny!? There must be a bunch of vulpix and ninetales living on Mt. Pyre if she is that old."
"Not as much as you would think. Like all canine Pokémon, mating season occurs only once a year and coupled with the fact that she lives on a remote mountain surrounded by ghosts that would surely lessen the odds of her finding a suitable mate."
My adorable fox Pokémon was suddenly less enthused to let us continue on in our conversation.
"Procreating is a perfectly natural biological process. There's no need to act squeamish Rena."
"Alright, I guess it is different when we are talking about your own mother. Still… you need to know this stuff later on. Picture this scenario: you are out on a nightly stroll and suddenly come across a very mysterious Zorua. You share a tree stump with only a single bowl of berries. Obviously, he's going to try to swipe all those berries for himself but instead he takes one of the berries and roles it over to your side of the stump offering you the first morsel. A classic bad boy dark type he's rough around the edges but you know with just some slight tweaking he'd make for the perfect prince charming."
As I was playing out the scenario from lady and the tramp, Rena's breath got hitched obviously vividly imagining the scenario in her mindscape. Her escapade with that Zoroark gave me some insight into the type of Pokémon she liked. Strangely enough my story also seemed to have stoked Flannery's imagination. The girl was keenly listening in on my made up bogus story.
"Finish the story! How does it end?"
"When the two of you are older. This story's ending is for a more mature audience."
"Fineee… at the end of this romantic evening a bombirdier brought the two of them lots of little kits to look after. The End."
"That's a cop out! Give us the true ending!"
Despite the excessive nagging from both my little fox and Flannery I resisted the urge to give them a satisfying ending. Rena wasn't a little cub anymore and by Pokémon standards she could be considered a budding young lady. That however wasn't the case for Flannery, and I'd be damned before I was picking up any angry phone calls from her grandfather.
The three of us continued on like that for another couple of hours until it was time for our lunch break. We were getting closer to our destination. By my estimates it'd take another hour or two until we arrived at Phoebe's family mansion. Coincidentally we were closer to Rena's family home than to Phoebe's old folks' home. Which led to certain disagreements within our traveling party.
"I know but we'll be staying here for at least the next two weeks, maybe even longer. You'll have plenty of time to visit them."
"Egon what's this all about…?"
"Rena insists on visiting her family first before we make our way to Phoebe's place."
"No way! I want to shower! All this exercise has made me all sweaty."
"You are capable of sweating? You live adjacent to a volcano I haven't even seen you perspirate once."
"I lived there my entire life. Of course a little bit of heat doesn't faze me!"
'Strange… external heat doesn't affect her the way it should, but exercise does? Is her skin made from some kind of isolation material?'
"I think… we should visit Rena's family first. We'll get in a quick meal and make the proper introductions. This will only take us another hour at the most."
Our next course of action having been decided, we left the staircase and went off the beaten path. Rena acting as our guide, she more than anyone else, would be able to show us the proper path without intruding on another Pokémon's territory. Having spent a good chunk of her life living on this mountain made her an expert at recognizing territorial marks. The Pokémon that lived here would not bother anyone who stuck to the staircase and surrounding graveyards, but our tacit protection would be brought into jeopardy if we intruded a wild Pokémon's home. We continued venturing through the tall grass for a while before encountering a familiar looking Pokémon.
There in a small clearing resting on a flat piece of rock stood a bell-shaped Pokémon.
"Whoa! A Chingling what a remarkable find. Do you know how rare it is to find one of these in the wild? Their species are known for living in old temples and the like, so it wouldn't be strange encountering one on the mountain, but only on the top of the mountain's shrine. This one must have accidentally wandered off."
Before I had the chance to interact with the bell Pokémon Flannery did something unexpected.
"No! We can't waste any more time gawking. I know how you operate Egon! You are going to bring this one along and grow attached!"
"That's nonsense! I just have a healthy appreciation for Pokémon. You should be more like me and stop to sniff the roselia from time to time!"
"She isn't wrong…but I do like that part about you."
'I guess she's right but that won't stop me from finding out what's up with this stray Chingling.'
"Heya little buddy. How come you aren't with the rest of your family at the summit?"
Chingling didn't seem powerful enough to communicate with me telepathically which led me to believe this one was either pranked by a ghost type or was undergoing some kind of self-imposed trial.
As expected the bell Pokémon gave off behavioral ticks similar to a child that had lost their mother inside a large crowd half confirming my suspicions.
"Me and my companions are off to visit a skulk of vulpix and ninetales. You are welcome to join us and we can take you to the summit after we finish."
The little bell Pokémon got all excited rattling the clapper inside its body. It wasn't the loudest of sounds but we were still off the beaten path so free game for any ghost types that wouldn't mind messing with us upon discovering our location.
"Let's calm down, Chingling, this is still ghost country. We wouldn't want to attract the attention of any mischievous specters."
With that I used my one free hand to lift the Pokémon before depositing Chingling on the top of my head.
"Just stay there for now, this way you'll be the first to spot any incoming ghost types."
We continued on our way but I quickly realized that it was quite hard to keep Chingling from making any sounds. The species' whole biology was centered around performing sound-based moves. Just moving too quickly would force the passenger on my head to produce jingle noises. Luckily judging by Rena's current emotional state we weren't that far off from reaching her mother's residence. Just as we passed a familiar looking Medicham who was minding his own business being stuck in a meditative state. We spotted the outline of a very well kept and sunlit cave. Rena dashed forward yipping loudly without any heed.
It didn't take long before the cave's residents took notice of my excitable little fox Pokémon. Out came Ninetales accompanied by two little cubs. This exact same scene caused my nostalgic brain to think fondly on the first time I met Rena at this place. While I was thinking about past events Rena and Ninetales collided into each other, the both of them eager to reconfirm their parental bond.
Rena was in the middle of getting an impromptu tongue bath not wanting to interrupt her special time. I began setting up the picnic blanket and cutting board while my fox Pokémon was kept busy. Flannery on the other hand tried to sneakily endear herself to the two grown vulpix who watched on as their mother poured affection on their long-lost sister.
"Ssshhh hey there cuties my name is Flannery."
I was determined to stay out of her way even though she gave off serious predator vibes. After I finished setting up the picnic blanket and all my empty bowls I was ready to begin dicing my final stash of berries. I was expecting this to be the last day before we ran out due to the fact that we had extra mouths to feed. Regrettably Shuckle was still stuck in his ball but before the bug type had to be locked up I made sure to give him an ample supply of berries to house inside his shell.
"Hey Rena, ask your mom if it's okay for me to bring out the rest of the team. I could use the extra hands to make lunch."
My own fox Pokémon complied asking for her mom's permission with a series of yips. Ninetales, being naturally curious about her daughter's teammates, consented to my request with a single nod of the head. Without further ado I unlatched the six other poké balls strapped to my waist with a flick of my wrist minus the inaccessible safari ball.
Bright flashes of light revealed my other partners. Since this area of the mountain belonged solely to Ninetales I was confident enough to let Victini roam freely out of her ball. The chances of us running into another person at this height was vanishingly rare.
My ever-sociable teammates quickly introduced themselves to Ninetales and her kits. Trying to leave a good impression on the ancient Ninetales. Numsy gave her a single glance, let out a huff and moved to the other side of the picnic blanket, content to rest until lunch was served. Glove picked up Halo and presented her to Ninetales before respectfully standing aside letting his charge work out the minutiae of socialization herself. My bigger team members seemed to have developed less eager personality types settling for watching over the little ones on my team. Houndour was the rowdiest, recognizing the elder Ninetales' might but still wanting to touch noses with her little ones. Just to make sure her continued overeagerness wouldn't offend Ninetales I called her to lay by my side as I prepared our food. The rest of my team members were young enough so that I was fairly sure that Ninetales' motherly instinct wouldn't perceive them as a threat no matter what they got up to.
"Vi Vi?" "Those tails, can I touch them?"
I have become fluent in Vulpix after taking care of Rena for so many years. So, I could for the most part understand what Ninetales was saying. She seemed perplexed rather than offended by Victini's request.
"Vi!" "Rena lets me touch hers. Can I? Can I?"
I was fairly sure Victini was making a faux pas by asking to touch Ninetales' tails on their first meeting. The species was very peculiar about who was allowed to touch their tails. There were numerous tales of people getting cursed by a Ninetales for pulling on one of their tails without permission. Weirdly enough this Ninetales seemed fine with letting my overly rambunctious Pokémon do as she pleases. One yip was all it took for the rabbit Pokémon to be head deep inside one of her luxurious tails.
Rena showed signs of being embarrassed for her friend. Understandably not many friends would go out of their way to dive headfirst into your estranged mother's fur. While I was busy preparing everybody's food plus some extra depending on whether or not Rena's family wanted to eat along with the rest of us. I kept thinking about possible nicknames for Houndour, I liked selecting quirky names for my Pokémon and after contemplating for a while I decided on the perfect one.
"Houndour I was thinking that I should give you a nickname. Everybody else on the team has one and I'd like to think of you as more than just another member of your species. What do you say?"
"Perfect! What about Ginger?"
She thought about it but ultimately decided that she didn't like the name letting me know by shaking her head sideways.
"You want a more serious sounding name? Hmm… how does Raven sound?"
The more edgy sounding name seemed to have gained her approval.
"That's great! From today onwards you shall be known as Raven."
The picnic started off on a positive note. Everyone gathered around the blanket to start enjoying their meals. Before Rena had a chance to take her first bite her mother Ninetales insisted on checking the quality of food. Rena's bowl was a mix of dry tasting berries, special ordered food pellets designed for fire type canines and a cut of mystery meat. Ninetales sniffed the bowl before taste testing it by taking a small bite from every component.
Judging by her elated expression it seemed my cooking skills have gained her approval. This was the same recipe I swiped out of Mr. Moore's ledger; tailor made for his own Ninetales. Naturally I was confident that it tasted good. Ninetales, obviously satisfied by the food I was offering, yipped to her other two children to come join us around the picnic blanket. The extra portions of food I prepared now coming in handy. One of the two I recognized as the same little sister I previously encountered back then, she was still cream colored with only a single tail just having been born. Now she had a full coat of red fur with a vulpix' trademark set of tails. The other one wasn't quite as mature as her two older sisters only having three tails cream colored with patches of red fuzz growing in.
'Flannery has no chance with the younger one. Ninetales wouldn't let her immature brood out of sight.'
The two Vulpix also started sniffing the makeshift bowls. We didn't have any extra so Glove helpfully smashed two large rocks until they had bowl shaped indents to put the food in.
"Say what do you normally eat around here? Aside from berries I mean."
"Wow that's ehm… I presume only the ones who are about to pass away from natural causes?"
That last part was a tad harder for me to translate so Victini helpfully clarified the situation for me.
"Pokémon come here when it's their time. They make the trek and wait for one the local dusclops to ferry their souls over to the spirit world. Ninetales is usually the one who is responsible for cleaning up their mortal remains."
Was it strange that I felt a sense of relief knowing that Ninetales wasn't the type to actually hunt her own food. The species dietary requirements necessitated that they eat meat on occasion, but it felt weird to me picturing Rena or the rest of her kin jumping hapless zigzagoons from the bushes.
Eagerly jumping towards another topic I filled ninetales in on my plans for the next two weeks.
"Me and my team are staying here for a couple of weeks. I am trying to train up Rena so she can develop a special ability. Do you know of any places on the mountain where the sun's rays are unrelenting?"
"Further up but humans aren't allowed to visit the summit."
At the mention of her home Chingling started getting excited making ringing sounds.
"What do you think Chingling? Do you think I'll be able to get permission to train up at the summit? Maybe you can put in a good word for me with the Pokémon living there."
"The loud one says that the Pokémon do not get involved in the decision making. A pair of elderly humans ultimately decide who is allowed up at the summit."
'Those people should be Phoebe's grandparents. Maybe I can get up there if I swear not to go near the area where the two orbs are being safeguarded.'
"You want to stay over at your mother's tonight? You must have missed her very much, come here you!"
I couldn't help but give her a few ear scratches. Rena was acting very adorable and childlike. Being in close contact with her mom for the first time in a year must have triggered the part of her brain that still wants to be pampered.
"That's fine I'll come pick you up when it's time to train. I am betting your little siblings must be curious what their big sis has been up to this last year."
We finished up dinner and both me and Flannery recalled our teams. Leaving Rena behind felt weird but I knew I would see her again on the morrow. After stuffing the last bowl in my backpack, we set off.
Chapter 53 – Uncovering Secrets
"Woooow! Her house is bigger than grandpa's gym!"
Phoebe's home was indeed of an impressive size being an ancient castle which could double as a defensible strategic asset during war times and has probably been used as such in ancient times. The mansion rested comfortably underneath a solid stone foundation centered around a large field which was nowadays being used to practice battling. Having visited this place in the past hadn't dampened my admiration for the old architectural design of the building. It wasn't as large as some of the other buildings I've seen during my travels, but it was up there. The place had dozens of rooms for guests to stay at but was now only being occupied by Phoebe, her grandparents and the multitude of ghost types who are associated with the family.
"Keep focused! The ghosts that live with the family are experienced enough to disregard the protection my cleanse tag offers you. Have you ever been given an Alolan sunburn by a haunter?"
"Good me neither. This is all just to get you mentally prepared. The ghost type Pokémon living here take advantage of the fact that we can't fight back without setting the castle on fire. They likely won't get physical with us, but the ghosts will interfere with our sleep by wailing into the night or rearranging the furniture inside our sleeping quarters."
We finally made it to the front entrance. The wooden gate had a pair of old fashioned door knockers which I promptly used to announce our arrival and because the castle was mostly empty the acoustics helped carry the sound along. The door immediately opened but just by a smidgen with our prospective hosts nowhere in sight. No doubt the ghosts of this place were planning to play another prank on me.
"Oh! The door opened, let's go inside."
"Don't! This is obviously a water bucket prank. You push that door open and try to walk in, you'll get soaked with cold water."
"Stop being so paranoid, Egon! I'll show you!"
Flannery attempted to open the front gate but before she had a chance to do so I blocked her grasping hand. She gave me an offended glare before I properly demonstrated the dangers Phoebe's home represented to all visitors. I had the perfect partner ready to help me spring this trap. I unclasped the sole white poké ball latched to my belt and released my psychic friend. She always takes powernaps after meals, but she'd forgive me for waking her up in this case.
The sleepy rabbit materialized outside of her ball. Still groggy and slightly annoyed that I released her without a proper wake up call.
"Can you use your telekinesis to open up the gate for us?"
Tini sensing my intentions opened up both halves of the gate wide open and in the process a bucket filled with sawdust fell down on the floor right where Flannery would be standing if she had carelessly opened the door.
'Hmm sawdust they've upped their game.'
"You know how dangerous that is!? Someone could've gotten a splinter in their eye!"
We couldn't see the ghost but guessing by the sound it made I could make a fairly accurate guess as to which one of them was the one responsible for this prank.
Gengar was one of the family's ancestral Pokémon. And by my estimation also the one who was responsible for being the first to encourage Phoebe in her pranking ways. This specter loved nothing more than to evoke laughter from the other occupants living inside the castle spending most of its time practicing his stand-up comedy routine. Manzai style sadly for Gengar no one in the mansion was sane enough to play a decent straight man. According to Phoebe his act had gotten fairly good over the centuries, too bad for Gengar only a handful of humans in the world could understand pokéspeak.
'I am fairly certain this prank was only meant to hit intruders who would just waltz in without waiting for someone to answer the door. I can go easy on him this time.'
"Gengar try sticking with water next time it's less of a health risk. Could you go see if Phoebe or one of her grandparents is available?"
Seeing as there was no need to keep up the ruse the ghost materialized from the gate's shadow and gave us a wink before floating off to go get one of the castle's living residents.
"See? You can avoid being a victim by staying vigilant. This type of awareness would be a boon to you when participating in a circuit run."
As I was going through all the common hijinks these ghosts get up to, the castle's mistress finally made her way to the front gate to receive us. Phoebe's grandmother was in excellent shape for someone in her twilight years. Probably the result of having to climb up and down the mountain as part of her day job. Victini sensing her arrival stuffed herself inside my backpack.
"Little Egon! How good of you to come visit Phoebe told me all about what the two of you got up to during her little venture into Unova. Oh! And you brought back our dear little Chingling."
"We found Chingling some ways down the mountain and I figured she must have somehow gotten lost. I didn't know this one belonged with you."
"As you know my husband and I each own a Chimecho. This little one is the fruit of their love."
Chingling over the course of our conversation hopped down off my head and ran into the castle probably intent on rejoining its parents. It was at this moment that the elderly lady noticed Flannery standing right behind me.
"Oh! And who is this vibrant young lady?"
"Hello Ma'am! My name is Flannery Moore from the Lavaridge gym. I am accompanying Egon here on his journey."
"Moore? You must be Tim's granddaughter! The last time I saw him he couldn't stop raving about you! Come inside I'll make the both of you some hot coco."
Very much unlike the ghosts living with them, I found Phoebe's grandparents to be very warm and hospitable. Their only major character flaw was not disciplining their Pokémon to not harass their guests. I'd imagine that loads more people would come visit this historical site if it weren't for their Pokémon having free reign to prank their guests. Usually just sticking close to either the grandfather or grandmother kept you safe enough from the castle's other inhabitants; too bad you couldn't follow them into their bedrooms at night.
As we followed the enigmatic lady inside Flannery couldn't help but shout Oooh's and Aaah's out now and again. The interior was kept in pristine condition by the various Pokémon living here with no spiderwebs or a lick of dust in sight and the hallways were also decorated with a great collection of art depicting the family's historical figures, great battles and league champions of the past. Basically Phoebe's family was filled with noteworthy figures. Her parents were still out there on some great spiritual journey or the like. Leaving Phoebe to be raised by her grandparents which was kind of the norm for trainer families living around these parts.
We were eventually led onto the same engawa overlooking the castle's training grounds. Both grandparents made it a habit to overlook their granddaughter's training sessions and offered up the family's Pokémon for sparring matches. She motioned for the both of us to sit down while excusing herself to get us refreshments. Phoebe was coincidentally still in a training session when we arrived working on some new moves with Yamask while facing off against a hauntingly familiar looking Misdreavus.
This was an appropriate place to release my team members. A wide open space where there is almost zero chance of them scorching the wooden castle by accident.
My team materialized close to the porch, their bellies filled with lunch eager to just bask in the sun. The sudden flash of light did catch Phoebe's attention earning us a quick glance before she continued her training session.
"My… what a unique looking Litwick. In all my years I've never seen one quite like that one. Its flame's coloring is slightly off and those glowing green eyes."
"Yeah, the staff working at the celestial tower were all excited. Even Unova's elite four Shauntal made the trip over to come see him. Strangely enough, no one I've met in Hoenn makes a big fuss about seeing him for the first time."
"That's because your average person living here has never seen a regular Litwick before. Make sure to look after him properly. Poachers and thieves wouldn't mind snatching him up if you made it easy for them."
My team, curious of their new surroundings, were eager to explore the castle grounds. Being a responsible trainer, I made sure to remind them to behave while we were staying under another's roof.
"Okay guys we'll be staying here for a couple of weeks. Numsy is familiar with the castle's residents so if you have any questions, you can always ask him. Stick together if you wander off on your own the ghost types living here may take one of their pranks too far."
The word castle seemed to set off the youngest member of the team. Halo's eyes were shining with glee as she took in her surroundings. In all likelihood the little bug type was already planning to claim dominion over this place and start her regency over the archipelago of Hoenn.
"No bad! This is Phoebe's home. If you want your own castle, you'll have to save up money just like everybody else."
"She doesn't think it's possible to save up enough to afford something like this."
"Yes, you could. I've heard that a league champion's salary is quite lucrative not to even mention all the money they make from sponsorship deals. Just be patient, you'll get there eventually."
I took my agitated bug type and placed her on top of my lap gently stroking her white fuzzy mane in an attempt to calm her down. I was quietly amazed at her growing size. It wouldn't be long from now until she had outgrown the size of my lap.
"I'll tell you what. Once you've grown big enough, I'll schedule some practice matches for you with some of the gyms on my visiting list. Those gym trainer battles pay out decently and you will get to keep all of the winnings."
It was at this point that Phoebe's grandmother came back carrying with her two cups of coco and an assortment of cookies and candied fruit peels to enjoy them with.
"My… is this little one feeling down?"
"Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs. Fuchigami. Yes, this one has only recently hatched and aspires to have her own castle one day just like her mother."
"That's a stellar dream! I am sure she will manage to do it in the future. There are many obstacles to owning a home like this. The upkeep costs alone are significant and that's with all our Pokémon pitching in to help out."
"If mother can do it so, can I!"
"Even your mother has issues in that regard. Most of relic castle is buried in sand not even mentioning all the wild ground types who keep digging holes in the ceilings and floors. If you do manage to get a castle, I'll bet it'll be much tidier under your supervision."
Hearing us talk about a foreign castle seemed to have garnered the elderly lady's interest in the subject.
"The place you and our Phoebe went to during her stint in Unova?"
"Yeah… She also managed to catch her Yamask there. Her expertise on ghost types really saved the expedition. The native Unovan mediums and channelers are only obliged to help out during emergencies."
"A sensible policy. Unless the ghost types living inside the ruin turn completely feral it is best to leave such places alone. Still… you managed to convince my granddaughter to disregard common sense and fly twelve hours over to a foreign country."
"She's too old for you. You have my permission to try again once you turn sixteen."
It wasn't me that acted flabbergasted at this granny's innuendo. Flannery who has been contently sipping from her hot coco and casually listening in on our conversation almost lost control of her cup splashing a sizeable amount of its contents on her attire.
"I didn't invite her with the intention of cultivating a romantic relationship. The professor I was traveling with noted the expedition's lack of ghost specialists and I figured why not ask my friend who is an expert on such matters. Besides, she has always wanted to expand her team's depth by including some foreign species."
'If this granny thought she could catch me flat footed by making outrageous claims, she has another thing coming.'
While Phoebe's grandmother and I were busy having a stare off. The sounds of Pokémon moves being rehearsed in the training yard quieted down. Signifying that Phoebe would soon be joining us. The change in atmosphere was enough for the two of us to cancel our standoff and we pulled our focus back to the surroundings. The elderly lady eventually noted Flannery's state of dress and beckoned the young girl to follow her along so she could switch attires somewhere more private.
Tini took this chance to do away with her hiding spot joining the rest of my team who were enjoying the sun's rays while lazily strewn about on the porch.
'Sure, she's a great friend to have. Who else would allow us to stay over for weeks on end in her family's private castle without compensation?'
"I didn't mean it like that!"
'I know, and no I don't like her that way. My past experiences make me immune to the charms of teenage girls. I am attracted to ladies with a more mature appeal coincidentally this ten-year-old body makes this entire topic of conversation a moot point. For now, my focus is on training Pokémon. We can revisit this topic once I am out of puberty's cruel clutches.'
Phoebe walked up to us with her Yamask following closely behind her. The little ghost type seemingly tired from the training session he has just been put through.
"Heya Egon you finally made it! And not a single woodchip on you. I guess you learned a thing or two from your previous stays here."
"So, you knew about Gengar's plan… just make sure his pranks stay harmless, okay? Can't have visiting guests be pierced by sharp edged splinters.
"Gengar is old school; he doesn't keep up with more modern pranks. I'll convince him to join our monthly think tank so he can come up with some safer ones."
I was a tad doubtful but if there was any chance that Gengar's pranks could be downgraded to the level of whoopie cushions or stink bombs I'd be content. I quickly glazed over my concerns to discuss my future stay here.
"Just like we agreed, me and my team will be staying here for at least the following two weeks. After that I need to leave for a gym battle appointment in Fortree city."
"Great! Now that you have your own team, I can have my Pokémon battle yours during our sessions. I can't wait to discover how strong Victini is!"
"Ahem yeah… We sort of figured that out with Mr. Moore. She regularly manages to knock out Pokémon that are on his personal team. Ghost types are on average a bit on the frail side…"
"Don't underestimate my team Egon! This is perfect for us if my Pokémon manage to beat Victini we'll be sure to take Moore's spot on the elite four when I qualify to make a personal challenge."
"Vi Vi!" "I don't want to battle Yamask, he's our friend!"
I decided to share Victini's concerns about battling other Pokémon.
"At the start Victini accidentally overdid it with several Pokémon looking for a friendly spar. Now she only wants to battle Pokémon strong enough to at least be able to take a single move of hers."
"My Dusclops is the toughest around!"
"You still haven't found an appropriate size reaper cloth to match his figure?"
"I am working on it! Grandpa says he finally found a seamstress confident enough to work the material."
"I guess we could give it a try but…"
"I want you to help me train Orin in exchange. He's been having trouble performing at the same level as some of my older teammates. Learning a thing or two from a ghost type specialist like yourself will surely help boost his confidence."
Having heard his name being mentioned drew the little ghost type's attention. We had already planned out beforehand on how to convince Phoebe to personally train him. If trading favors didn't work out, I instructed him to play the cuteness angle.
Orin hopped off the porch and in short order gave Phoebe a full body leg embrace. Quietly fake crying to keep her attention.
"Awww, of course I'll help out! Don't you worry cutie, by the end of these two weeks you'll be just as strong as any of Egon's team members."
"By the way Phoebe, have you told your grandparents about Victini yet? Living inside this place for two weeks means they are bound to find out about her eventually."
"I didn't! Not yet anyway… can I tell them now? My grandpa's a huge history buff. He'll be so excited to meet a Pokémon only recorded in myths."
"Maybe after dinner…? just make sure to let them know that we are still keeping Victini's existence on the down low. Otherwise, they might feel inclined to tell the other old people inside their circles of confidence."
Halo was starting to puff herself up in annoyance. This was one of the rare times that she wasn't the center of attention. To ease her concerns, I started feeding her some of those candied fruit peels Phoebe's grandmother left behind as well as giving her some statutory head pats. When Halo was on my lap her expectations to be lauded with attention was what made her extra adorable.
"Let's start right away! Victini against my Dusclops. I'll be demonstrating a few moves Litwick will be learning while training under my supervision!"
"You up for a quick battle Tini?"
"Vi!" "Okay! Just let me have some of those fruit peels first!"
Both me and Phoebe eventually ended up standing on opposite ends away from one another on the castle's training grounds. After Victini finished nabbing what remained of the fruit peels we got dragged off by an overly excited Phoebe eager to compare the difference in power between a regular Pokémon and a mythical one. Her Dusclops was already out of its ball ready and waiting for an upcoming battle. The beckoning Pokémon was one of the scarier looking members of her team with its blood red singular vacant eye. The species was completely incapable of making any sort of facial expressions making it hard to judge its moods or intent putting any opponent on the backfoot right from the start.
"Ready as we'll ever be. Bring it!"
Seeing as both me and Victini were telepathically linked there was actually no need to issue verbal commands, but I still did so for the benefit of our onlookers. Raven and Halo both still needed to get used to my style of battling.
Dusclops upon hearing its trainer's command quickly formed an ethereal fist that sped towards Victini's position. Knowing that shadow punch was one of those moves that would follow and connect with its target no matter what, Victini and I agreed that pushing through the attack was our best option. Strangely enough, sharing mind spaces made it easier to share intention with one another without having to explain details to the other party.
Victini darted forward wreathed in white hot flames colliding with the imaginary first heading her way. Even though its effectiveness as a ghost type move was beyond a reasonable doubt Victini managed to shrug off the damage with little effort and kept moving forward at the same speed hitting Dusclops with a fiery head bash. Normally this would KO any regular Pokémon but Dusclops while clearly suffering from the move persisted ready to take on more beatings.
Dusclops wasn't quite fast enough to slip into the shadows resulting in Victini's tiny clawed paw pummeling him. Unlike what her small physique might suggest, Victini's punches packed quite a wallop capable of crushing large boulders with ease. Still at this point most half trained Pokémon would be down on the ground passed out. That Phoebe's dusclops was still standing albeit with some difficulty was praiseworthy.
Dusclops took this opportunity to create more distance between itself and Victini before disappearing into a mass of shadows.
'He'll come up when we least expect it in the meantime, we'll get even stronger.'
Steam started wafting out of Victini's large ears as the Pokémon enhanced her physical and mental abilities. I was sure with Victini's power enhanced even further that the following exchange of moves would be the last one. It was at that point that Phoebe surprised the both of us.
Forgoing the chance at coming out of Victini's own shadow to assault her physically. Phoebe and Dusclops opted to use another strategy. Dusclops materialized at a distance behind Victini and Phoebe quickly took this chance to turn the tables on us. Pain Split was an insidious move that acted more like a curse forcing its target to share half of the user's wounds and fatigue. Victini who was perfectly hale was quickly becoming exhausted while Dusclops on the other hand who was struggling and one blow away from being floored started looking much better. I couldn't allow Phoebe to set the tone for the battle like this so we decided to quickly and decisively end the match.
Before Victini got hold of Dusclops form the ghost type enveloped itself in a translucent shield that however didn't stop Victini from trying to break through this protective bubble. Instead of enveloping Dusclops' form she did so with the shield bouncing the ball up and down like a basketball. Dusclops was still protected but would probably be disoriented for a short while after the bubble's protection faded. Eventually the normal type energy empowering Dusclop's protective bubble faded unveiling the wobbly looking ghost type.
I needed no more confirmation and quickly decided to end the battle before Dusclops could slip away a third time.
"Come on Dusky! Use shadow sneak!"
Astoundingly Dusclops managed to snap out of its mental haze and quickly following its trainer's command slipped back into the shadows. The flamethrower which was headed it's way landed with a bang on the open field generating a small explosion. Producing a copious amount of slag that rocketed off in every direction. Not caring overly much about the collateral damage we were already prepared for Dusclops' retaliatory strike. Shadow Sneak wasn't a move where the user slipped into the surrounding shadows. The move involved a ghost type extending its own shadow to fling itself behind the intended target which had to be done in quick succession. So, both me and Tini weren't surprised when Dusclops reappeared behind her to deliver a quick blow.
This was a move Victini had learned on her own. It grew more powerful the more augmented the user's body became during the battle and since Victini was still steaming from the work up I'd figure it would be powerful enough to finish off the fatigued Dusclops. We opted to use this move over others because stored power acted like a small scale psychic energy explosion centered around the user. This way Victini wouldn't have to turn around to immediately retaliate against Dusclops' attack.
Violet energies exploded outwards centered around Victini's small frame. Dusclops who was in close proximity to her received the full brunt of the attack but refused to go down before he got his own licks in weakly punching Victini before slumping down in defeat.
"Dusclops can no longer continue to battle; the winners are Egon and Victini!"
Before me and Victini could make use of this rare opportunity to gloat. A girly excited voice coming from the porch where the rest of my team was watching boldly declared our victory. Flannery was back together with Phoebe's grandmother and grandfather wearing a new clean shirt. I was expecting the grandmother to make it back in time to witness our battle but somehow we made enough noise to lure her husband to come out and watch as well.
Before we had a chance to explain ourselves Phoebe recalled dusclops and walked up to me with a determined expression on her face.
"Before you have to leave me and my team will beat you! So be prepared to accept challenges from me every day from now until then!"
"Vi Vi!" "Bring it on! Dusclops is strong. I want to battle him again!"
Victini's candid admittance of her Dusclops' strength seemed to have put the teenage girl in a better mood. It wasn't everyday that a mythological Pokémon praised her team's power.
"That's so sweet of you to say Victini! We'll be sure to give you an even tougher challenge the next time."
Victini was also roughed up from the battle but nothing a few oran berries and some grooming couldn't fix. The three of us returned back to porch where my team was waiting for me. The younger ones being starry eyed at Victini's capabilities and were sure to fawn over her. While my older team members acted like this was the norm for a Pokémon who was on the same team as them. Victini mixed back in the group pridefully boasting to the more impressed members of my team while Phoebe and myself had to face her grandparents' inquisitiveness. The grandfather was first to speak up.
"That was a great battle between you and my granddaughter. We are quite curious though; in my long life I've never laid eyes upon such a unique Pokémon."
Phoebe was the one who spoke up first keeping to our agreement that she would ease her parents into the secret that is Victini.
"Egon managed to find Victini while on his journey in Unova. She's a super rare Pokémon from myths and legends!"
'That's not how you ease others into shocking revelations!'
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