章 1216: 10
I stared at that television screen for a solid thirty minutes. I replayed that CD again, five times over, before the information offered fully sunk in. Then, I just trailed off, nothingness going on in my mind.
Once again.
What.
Lance is my father? I have a father? How the hell is my father a cartoon character?! I thought I was just, y'know, dumped here because-
Because…
Well, because reasons. Reasons I may not know, but reasons none the less.
Still… With the League Champion as my father, there were opportunities to be had. I could use his title to get into rare preserves, get a massive stipend boost, probably increase my carry limit and other such things.
But do I really want all of that?
Even though I have no problem taking advantage of things, the way I've captured all of my Pokémon being an obvious proof of such, there is such a thing as too much in my mind. I don't mind playing the orphan card, but to play the son card? That, that right there is too much. I am nobody's twerp. I'm Jon Snow, I'm my own man. Boy. Whatever. I won't have people know me as the son of Lance. If they did, I would never get anywhere on my own. Anything I did would be attributed to him.
There's a certain pride to getting your own shit done. When you aren't handed everything, then anything is possible.
No, I'm not going to oust Lance as my father. If he gives me free stuff, I'll take it. If he asks for something in return, depending on what that something is, he's got it. There will be no announcements, however.
As far as the world is concerned, nothing has changed. Lance doesn't know me, and I don't know him.
And it will stay that way.
My mind deviated further then. If I had a father, did that mean I had a mother? Was my bullshit story about being an orphan of Kumquat Island true? Did I have the ability to create the truth in my own image? What exactly am I? Am I some sort of spiritual parasite that latched on to the body of this worlds Jon Snow? I certainly look nothing like I did back on Earth, it might make sense.
Am I just some lucky sob? Well, yeah. I knew that much. But there are literal Gods in this world, Pokémon that created the cosmos, and they would have the power to do whatever they wanted. Whatever they wanted could include sending my sorry ass to this world.
Am I… God?
…
…
…
"HORNYEMMAWATSONCOMETOME!~"
"-What?"
"Nothing Liza."
"…M'kay."
We will see where that takes us.
Speaking of Liza, she went through her own little panic attack. Being the best friend of Claire Blackthorn meant that she knew Lance quite decently. They'd even had a fling, I discovered. Thusly, upon learning she was taking care of his son, she started to hyperventilate, going off on a personal tangent that culminated in my needing to slap her.
I still don't know how I got away with that.
In the end, Liza didn't really calm down. But she knew how to handle her moods and took that moment to take a nap. She was draped across her couch, snuggled up to a body pillow, facing away from me.
I'll do myself a favor and keep quiet. Until Liza comes up with a way to handle my existence that didn't involve self-destruction, the less she's awake the better.
Which left me with the egg to ponder. I don't really know what it could be. Really, I don't. I stopped playing the games with Fire Red and Leaf Green and stopped watching the anime halfway through Hoenn. I knew that the games went up to, like, six or seven generations, which means that there are hundreds of Pokémon I know nothing about. This egg could be anything.
But it was a Dragon type, that much I knew, and that made me think. Dragons were communal by nature, tending to spend the whole of their lives in familial groups when in the wild. Draconic energy, while deadly and primarily used for combative purposes, had the capacity to heal as well.
And I had something in need of healing.
I stood, walking out from the living room and made my way into my room. I grabbed Viserion's egg, bringing it back into the living room, placing it next to my new egg. I unlatched both incubators openings, and stuffed Viserion's egg into the new incubator. The new incubator was a fair bit larger than Viserion's, able to hold two eggs of healthy size snuggly. With an egg as small as Viserion's, there was still room to be had. Closing the top, I held my breath that something good would happen.
It was small, barely noticeable. A blip on the radar, but it was there.
Dull though the light was, Viserion shone for a scant half second.
It was going to live.
.
Three weeks since daddy dearest had left me my egg have past, and to be honest, while interesting and educational, it was also fairly dull. Most of the inhabitants of the Valley were still ignoring me. Without a Charizard of my own, I was inferior in their own minds, and as a species of ego-driven pseudo-dragons, inferiority was something they did not associate with. Which is, sadly, something I can sort of understand.
But there is some good news to be had! The eggs have been shimmering more and more recently, showcasing good health and their soon-to-be hatching, which has me quite excited. Hopefully Viserion will be strong and healthy, and whatever Lance gave me of a similar mindset.
Through Liza, I also was able to get a fair bit of training done, to the aggravation of my team. Her Charla, while not nearly the strongest Charizard in the Valley, was certainly the friendliest of them, and was happy to battle with my Pokémon. After a decent enough showing against her, more and more of the wild Charizard began to approach, battle instincts guiding them.
Most of the time, they trounced us. But even in defeat, we were winners. Arakh and Umber, both weak to Fire type Pokémon, found ways to combat the Valley, and Winter even learned some of the Charizard's own attacks. Winter gained access to Hyper Beam, and later learned how to summon up Fire type energy, resulting in Sunny Day and Heat Wave. Umber discovered how to use Blizzard, devastating an opponent in an environment of unending Ice. Arakh, well. He learned a whole slew of new moves and strategies, but…
Well, suffice to say that Arakh was mad. He was still salty about my trading Dragonair, and with each defeat he suffered at the hands of the Charizard he grew more and more angered. I understand his aggravation, I truly did. He came with me with the intent to become strong, not to be a punching bag. But this was temporary, soon he'd be untouchable, a Pokémon that would never need to fear his natural weaknesses.
It should also be noted that my team was starting to reach a stagnation. When you fight against the same opponent over and over and over again, you'll eventually figure out what makes them tic, and will eventually be able to beat them. This, while good, is also bad, purely due to the lack of variation. A Pokémon grows when they get to fight different opponents. While there were plenty of Charizards and other Fire types to be seen in the Valley… Yeah, things were slowing down.
The easiest way to solve this is to just find more opponents. But, and this is a big but, I can't do that. I have to stay with Liza, especially if I want to get my hands on a Charmander. I can't leave her.
So, instead of finding a new opponent, I chose to look for a new team member. With another Pokémon added to my roster, not only would my own Pokémon have some new variety, but I'd be a step closer to my end goal.
And, after searching online for the past three days, I think I found something.
Gligar sightings.
Gligar are genuinely awesome Pokémon. A species that has a natural Ground typing as well as being Flying types. Normally speaking they live in large cave systems or deep forests. However, the Gligar sightings I've noted have been occurring in Olivine City, quite frequently to boot. Over the past ten days, based on this article, a flock of seven Gligar have been appearing in the city at night, away from their natural habitat. Whether this is due to food shortages or new leadership, it's unknown. What is known is that the Gligar are being pests, swooping down on people and Pokémon alike, stealing food and souvenirs and just being a general group of nuisances.
In other words, there is nobody in the city that should get mad if I nab one of 'em.
"LIZA!" I shouted, grabbing my coat. "I'm heading out!"
She popped into the living room, a groaning mess with a forest of bed hair. Did I mention that it was 11:00 at night?
"Where're you-" She cut herself off with a yawn, wiping at her eyes. "Going?"
"Olivine City, there's a Pokémon I want to catch." I said, tying my shoes.
As I've mentioned before, or at least I think I did, Liza's pretty cool. She just nodded tiredly, waving me off and returned to her bed. That was permission. Probably. Close enough.
I exited the building and released Winter. By this point the Charizard in the Valley knew Winter by sight and scent, and so his appearance was met with a whole lot of nothing happening.
He looked down at me, head cocked. I mounted him, patting his neck affectionately.
We were off not a moment later.
Watching Jon take off from her window, Liza fell back into her bed. She liked to think she was a good woman. She had her faults, same as everybody else, but she was stable and could mask her anxieties without too much issue.
But there was one thing that she hated, one thing she vocally despised.
Being woken up.
Jon was lucky he woke her up to let her know that he was leaving. She would have tanned his hide if he didn't have anything important to say or do. Sleep was hard enough to get in the Valley, especially when the cool nights combated the hot stones that her home was built into.
She struggled to fall back asleep. She just couldn't get her mind to calm down. Even three weeks later, she still couldn't really believe it.
Jon was Lance's kid.
What kind of coincidence was that? Liza'd known Lance since before she had Charla. She and Lance had had a drunken fling a year ago, a night that while Liza fondly remembered, she also bitterly regretted. Lance was Claire's brother, the brother of her best friend. While there was no code that held her back, she also felt quite slimy at the end of things.
But Lance was kind and he understood her plight. He felt the same, with the added bonus of his being nine years her senior to the mix. He didn't want a relationship, he didn't want anything really, and claimed that they used one another to relieve stress. Considering the amount of trouble Professor Oak and his assistants were giving her for starters at the time, she could commiserate that it was, indeed, stress relief.
However, Liza still found herself occasionally looking Jon's way.
He really did look like a younger Lance, in a certain light. They had the exact same hair, the only difference being that Lance kept his longer and Jon liked his short. They had similar chins too, and the same ears. Jon's nose was a little less hawk-like than Lance's, but he was young and that might change as he got older. The biggest difference between them were their eyes, Lance having a pair of baby blues and Jon possessing gem-like ambers.
"Ar!" A noise echoed from her window. Liza frowned, but sat up, looking through. There, in all of her glory, was Charla: her partner of the past eleven years. Charla looked worried, looking from side to side, motioning for Liza to get up with her body.
Sighing, Liza did so. It wasn't like she could sleep, and Charla wasn't the type to fuss. If she was acting like this, Liza assumed it was something serious. Putting on some warmer clothes, Liza opened her window and was summarily picked up by Charla, carried in the Charizard's arms.
The distance was short. Liza was brought inside of the communal nesting grounds, where the female Charizard's laid eggs. Liza actually found herself breathing out in relief, there were indeed eggs. The Pokémon researchers that gifted starters to new trainers might actually have some stock this season.
But what was confusing was the air in the place. Hot and humid, as always, but there was this sort of fear that was in the cave as well. A trio of Charizard's were huddled together, shooting looks towards Liza and Charla. They shuffled about, before finally ungrouping, allowing Liza to see what they were huddled over.
It was another Charizard, a female matriarch that had her tail wrapped around a clutch of eggs. Quite a large one too, six eggs at once. Fantastic!
However, as Liza approached, checking the eggs over, one stood out to her.
Promptly, Liza understood. She turned to the Charizard that bore them, a worried glimmer in her eye.
Liza herself was worried.
'What a mess' she thought. It looked as if she wasn't going to be getting much more sleep tonight.
Two hours later, we were in the Olivine City Pokémon Center. Winter was a speed demon as always, taking what should have been a three week trek by land into a quick journey by air.
The city was quite nice to look at, reminiscent of that one time I visited Miami, Florida. The large buildings of white concrete built against the beachfront making it an ideal location. Very pretty.
The reason we arrived at the Pokémon Center was quite simple while also being quite random. Most of the information I had to go off of came from a few articles of complaint that showed up online. Naturally speaking, if there was one place that knew Pokémon, it would be the Pokémon Center. If nothing else, my hope was that there would be somebody that knew where I could find the Gligar.
The Center was relatively empty, as one would expect when it was 1:00 in the morning. There was an assistant nurse at the counter, a kid crashed on a couch with a Wooper in his lap, and a trio sat in the corner, looking over some paper on a table.
I walked up to the nurse, noting that this was not Nurse Joy. Understandable, most of the time there's only one Joy assigned to a Pokémon Center at a time, and they need to sleep too. Depending on the population of their assigned city of town, there can be a few secondary nurses and assistants around.
"Hi," I whispered, earning a thankful nod from the nurse. She was a brown hair woman hazel eyed and a kind smile. "I'm not actually here for healing, I just had a quick question."
"How can I help you?" She whispered back, her voice breathing.
"I heard there were a few Gligar around," I admitted. She nodded along. "Do you know where they are?"
She shook her head. "No. But that group in the corner do. I think they're after the flock as well."
What a coinkidink.
I thanked her and made my way over to the group, gawking ever so slightly at them. They were a unique trio of people, looking vaguely similar in their own way. Probably familial resemblances.
But they were also quite different.
One of them was a hulk of a man, muscles upon his muscles, bigger than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Mid thirties with spiky brown hair that reach his shoulders, a hard tan and big grey eyes, I admit to being intimidated. He was wearing a simple white tee with a red overcoat and a pair of black sweat pants.
…Not gonna mess with this guy.
Next to him was his mini-me. Looking to be ten or eleven, the kid was on the stocky side of the body spectrum, with cropped black hair and the same eyes as the beast of a man next to him, his skin only a smidgen lighter in coloration. He wore, surprise surprise, a white tee with a red overcoat and a pair of black sweat pants.
Just in case people didn't know they were related.
The third and final person was the main reason I gawked. Sure, the man was big and sure, the choice of wardrobe was inspiring, but the last member of this group is the one that held my attention in truth. She was a little older than the boy, so twelve or thirteen, with long and wavy brown hair that touched the small of her back. Large, doe-like brown eyes looked me over shrewdly, her face quite pretty – though her teeth were a smidgen larger than normal. Milky skin stood out when compared to the hard tans of her companions, complimenting her pale white dress and strapped sandals.
Now, I don't normally describe people as deeply as I did her. And for good reason, most people don't stand out to me. But this girl?
She looked like Hermione just as she was getting hot.
People, you don't understand the internal battle I am having. Emma Watson was my teenage crush and before me was what was basically her twin in this world. An actual doppelganger. And more than that… I'm also a little worried. I asked for a – ah, Emma Watson in a specific sort of mood earlier. The hope is that now that I've seen her she won't follow that request.
This has me conflicted.
The adult of the group looked at me, sizing me up. "Hello young man," he began, voice deep and gravelly. "What brings you to our table."
I hitched my thumb at the nurse. "She said that you three might know where I can find a Gligar."
The boy next to the man perked up. "You're after one too?"
"Yup," I grinned, taking a seat next to the Emma Watson lookalike. "I'm planning on specializing in Flying types and a Gligar sounds pretty perfect. Especially with their resistance to Electric attacks."
He snickered, holding out his hand. I shook it. "Names Johnny Kenway. Next to me is my pa, Jack Kenway, and next to you is my cousin, Jasmine Ironside."
I momentarily committed Jasmine's name to member, something niggling at my brain. "I'm Jon Snow, it's nice to meet you all." I smiled at Jasmine, earning a small one in returned, a flash of white teeth.
Did I feel like a pedo for thinking she was gonna be hot in the future? No. It's an observation.
Did I feel like one for contemplating going for it when she turned sixteen? …Well, yeah, a bit. That's where the confliction comes in.
Does anybody but me care? Doubt it.
Johnny gained my attention once more. "So, what Pokémon do you have? I've got an Onix and a Rhydon, though my Onix doesn't really listen to me."
I understood. "I'm having that problem with my Scyther right now, myself. It'll pass, hopefully. You into Rock types?"
"Ground types more than anything," he corrected. "That's why we're out here."
"Jasmine is in line to take over the Olivine Gym," Jack stated. "But her pool of Pokémon isn't as diverse as she'd like. Johnny has kindly offered to trade his Onix to her in exchange for a rare Ground type, and upon learning of these Gligar's, Johnny and her decided to come out. I'm only here because it is late, and a late-night excursion requires supervision."
I whistled, clapping quietly at the girl. She flushed. "That's impressive, really."
Thanking me, she shifted the subject matter. "You've got a Scyther, right? They're pretty rare. Are you planning on evolving it?"
I frowned. "Not really. I want to specialize in Flying types, and Scizor lose that designation to become Steel types. While I'm sure he'd like to evolve, I'm not really interested."
He'd been showing signs of wanting to evolve lately. Maybe for security, maybe for a boost in power, I don't know. But I put my foot down, I wouldn't help him evolve. That only caused some further strife between us.
I knew we'd be able to work through it eventually, but it's been over a month at this point. Temper tantrums don't last that long. I'm genuinely worried about Arakh.
"Often times, when a Pokémon wishes to evolve, it is best to just allow them to do so." Jack hummed. "They are not human, no matter how smart some Pokémon are, and do not care for our concerns. Your Scyther might lash out in some manner, be it ignoring your commands or, rare though it might be, actually attacking you."
"I doubt it'll get that bad," I denied, shuffling. "It's just a spat, y'know? He's mad at me, but we'll get through it."
"Well," Jasmine hummed, tongue sticking out. "I've got an idea, if you're interested."
"Oh?" I asked, curious. "What've you got?"
She looked down, clenching her hands. "I've got three Pokémon to my name: a Mareep, a Magnemite, and a Skarmory. I caught Magnemite myself and hatched Mareep from an egg, but Skarmory was a gift from my dad. He runs the Gym, so we always have lots of Steel types running around. Thing is, Skarmory doesn't like me at all. That's why Johnny and I were gonna trade in the first place: if I had a Steelix instead, one that listens to me, I'd be much better off. But Skarmory is a Flying type too, and, well, if you're willing, I'd trade her for your Scyther."
I was still, thinking furiously. It wasn't a bad deal, not at all. But I hadn't really considered it ever coming up. I've had Arakh for almost half a year by this point. He's the second Pokémon I caught, and no matter what kind of fight we're having, he's special to me.
Did I really want to trade him away?
On top of that, the way she described that Skarmory… Yeah, I don't know. Skarmory are pretty rare in the first place, but they're temperamental as all could be. I'd already planned on getting a Skarmory at some point, though I didn't know where one could be found.
"…I'm not opposed to the idea," I slowly began. Jasmine was already cheering, so I held up my hand, cutting her off. "But I'm not the only one that's affected. I've already traded one Pokémon before, and that's one of the reasons my Scyther is mad at me in the first place. I can't just trade him. Not without my team being a part of the conversation, at the very least. They need to have a say in things."
"Wise," Jack rumbled. "Very wise. And correct, your Pokémon are not just your Pokémon, they are a family unit unto themselves."
I stood, Jasmine and Johnny following my lead. Jack stayed put, content in his position.
We made our way up to the Pokémon Center roof, a flat structure where Pokémon could stretch the wings, literally in my case. Standing together, I released my team. Winter screeched his arrival, Umber hopped around without a care to be seen, and Arakh shot me a look, his scythes crossed.
"Alright guys, gather around," I announced, earning strange looks from my team. They still came in close but were certainly confused. "A serious question has come up, one that has to do with Arakh, but something that involves him involves all of us."
I motioned to Jasmine, who was looking at Arakh with ill-concealed interest. "This is Jasmine Kenway. She's a Steel type Pokémon trainer, and wants to trade her Skarmory for Arakh."
Winter glared at Jasmine while Umber just hooted, unconcerned. Arakh turned contemplative.
"The evolution of certain Pokémon can occur with different types of energy," Jasmine added, looking right at Arakh. He was looking at her as well. "Pokémon like you, Scyther, can naturally evolve by hibernating in a mineral deposit. That process takes months, sometimes years, to go through. But by trading you while holding something called a Metal Coat, the energy you'd need would be available in an instant. You could be a Scizor before the sunrise, if you became my Pokémon."
I, ah. That was a really compelling speech, and I'm sort of pissed that she was able to bullshit it so easily.
Or did she? Scyther aren't the only species that require a Metal Coat and trading to evolve. Onix does as well, and it's entirely possible that she just recycled the same speech she made to Johnny's own Pokémon.
Devious.
Somehow, that just made her even more attractive.
"I know you're still mad about Dragonair," I admitted, earning a sharp look from Jasmine and Johnny and a stink eye from Arakh. "But this is about you, there's no way I would make this decision without you. You know I don't want to evolve you, but… What's best for you might not be what I want from you. I don't want you to go, Winter doesn't want you to go, Umber doesn't want you to go, but, well, in the end, you know what you need to do."
I sighed, "The choice is yours."
Arakh studied me, his stink eye gone. He buzzed around, hovering in the air above us, thinking hard.
Whilst he did that, I found myself bombarded by the cousins.
"You caught a Dragonair?" Johnny asked. "Wait, you traded a Dragonair? How could you!"
"It's not like it was an easy decision!" I protested. "That Dragonair was pregnant and literally the day after decided to mate with a trained Dragonite. She wasn't going to give me a chance to be her trainer. I got the egg she was carrying, as well as an increase in my Pokémon carrying limit, for her."
"It's not a horrible deal," Jasmine said, her brow furrowed. "But you could have gotten more."
My shoulders fell. "I know." You think I don't beat myself up about that. I replayed that deal over and over again in my mind and knew that I got jipped. Professor Oak got what he wanted, and while I didn't really lose much, I still walked away with less than I wanted.
Arakh landed before us once more, his conflict gone. He was determined, his mind made up.
"So," I started. "What's it gonna be."
He wasn't slow. He pointed a scythe at Jasmine and nodded towards her, buzzing to her side. He fucking stuck his tongue out at me, blowing a raspberry.
Well then.
Winter hopped over, screeching at his soon-to-be former teammate. Umber didn't really care, but then again she wasn't too close with Arakh in the first place.
I put an arm in front of Winter, metaphorically holding him back. It's not like I could physically do it, not when he was as big as he was. I didn't even really want to hold him back. However, this was a trade deal, not an abandonment. Letting Winter go apeshit on Arakh was not acceptable.
Mind you, when Jasmine was the Gym Leader and I eventually challenged her, there was no way I wouldn't let Winter go off on him. Petty though it may be… Yeah. I don't care.
But karma came swift and sudden. Just as I was about to go over the details of my trade with Jasmine, a shit landed on Arakh's head, white and smelly. He was stunned. As one we all craned our necks upward.
The Gligar flock we came out for was up in the air. They were laughing up a storm, patting a larger Gligar on the shoulder, that Gligar having a little dribble that hit splashed Umber.
My Christmas penguin went from hopping around to frothing mad in an instant, Present in her hand. Without an order she shot into the air and threw a barrage at the flock. Their laughter ended quickly, a panic of dodging and explosions taking its place.
"Arakh," I said, just as it finally clicked that he had been shat on. If I thought he was angry at me, that was nothing compared to the sheer rage in his eye. "If you want to be traded then you need to get used to Jasmine commanding you. She'll be ordering you for the duration of this battle."
He sneered, nodding shortly before shooting into the air. I hopped on Winter's back, offering Jasmine my hand. She quickly mounted my Pidgeot as well, grabbing me by the waist and pressing into my back firmly. Winter, unused to the extra weight, took a moment to get situated, but when he did he were in the air.
"This is amazing!" Jasmine loudly said into my ear.
"You get used to it," I told her, my recently bruised ego swelling slightly.
While we were up here, I told her of Arakh's moves. If she was going to command him, she wouldn't be left in the dark. I wasn't that salty.
Umber was going off, throwing Present after Present at the group. They were returning fire, only instead of using attacks, they were just shitting on her. Most of these she was able to dodge, but the few she didn't made her all the madder. Arakh was right there with her, sprinting through the group with a vengeance.
"Arakh!" Jasmine called out, "Use Metal Claw!"
"Umber!" I echoed. "Blizzard!"
Umber was first to go, her body coated in Ice energy that expanded into a storm of hail and snow and rage. Five of the Gligar were caught in the storm, the two that escaped were the ones that had successfully shat on Umber and Arakh. The group of five all flew away now that pain was a factor, but the other two remained, intent on returning fire.
The big one, the one that used Arakh for target practice, fired a sphere of darkness at Umber, one that was barely dodged. Dark Pulse, a rare attack that normally needed to be taught.
In the aftermath of that, whilst Umber and that Gligar were distracted with one another, Arakh went for the other Gligar, Metal Claw swiping down at it viciously. Arakh didn't let up, replacing his spent Metal Claw with a False Swipe, which then led into a Fury Cutter. The Gligar before it stood little chance against such an onslaught, and Jasmine took her chance.
Winter brought us close and she tossed an Ultra Ball at the falling Gligar. It was enveloped, but then something really weird, but really cool happened. I hadn't noticed, but Jasmine was wearing a glove, covered in electrical wirings and metallic plates. She held her gloved hand aloft and the Ultra Ball she just threw was magnetically returned to her.
Once again. Really cool. I want one.
But I wanted this Gligar more.
Umber and Gligar were trading blows. I'd trained them to be able to handle themselves when in the air, since they might not hear my orders. She was firing more and more Presents, Gligar returning fire with Sludge Bombs and Dark Pulses. Eventually, Umber got tired of the exchange, and got close, dodging attack after attack on her way.
Gligar's claw lit up in Steel type energy then, and it rushed at her as well. Just as they were almost at each other's throats, Umber opened her beak, Ice Beam spearing the bat at point blank range.
That finally knocked it out. Winter got even closer, giving me the chance to throw a Great Ball. Gligar was absorbed, and without much further consequence, was captured. I couldn't tell how many shakes the Poké Ball went through, but by the time we found the ball it was already stuck.
Thus, I caught a Gligar.
.
Winter returned to the Pokémon Center, and I returned both Arakh and Umber and had the nurse on staff look them over. While Arakh was fine save for the shit, Umber did take a couple hits and it was better to be safe than sorry.
Luckily, it was a quick fix. Umbers damage was minor, and it took only fifteen minutes for her to be fixed up. Arakh took even less time, all he required was a wipe down.
And then it was time.
Jasmine and Johnny and Jack brought me to the Olivine Gym, which basically was an aluminum factory built near the hillside to the north of Olivine. It looked like a metal box. There were a handful of Magnemite floating about, shepherded by a Magneton. As far as I could tell, that was all there was.
Jasmine and Johnny led me further inside, past the battle stadium and inside a storage facility. There she grabbed an Ultra Ball and after beckoning me back to the stadium, released it.
Sleek metallic feathers coated in blood-colored plumes were the first things I noted. It looked more like a raptor than a bird, with talons the size of my head and a sword for a tail. Its head was home to a protruding horn sticking out of the back of its scalp, reminiscent of a dirk or a knife, with teeth like nails and yellow eyes with thin slit pupils.
Yup. Skarmory are scary as hell.
But this is gonna happen. My goal is to be a Pokémon trainer, and Arakh made his choice. I was to have this Pokémon, and I'd make the best of it.
Jasmine walked over to Skarmory at a slow, sedate pace. She was afraid of it, her mindset obvious in her body language. No wonder it didn't like her.
She cleared her throat, Skarmory's eyes narrowing at her. "Skarmory," she said, waving at me. "This is Jon. He'll be your trainer from now on."
Her head swiveled towards me, and unlike Jasmine, I kept my wariness at bay. Living with wild Charizards for over a month made that easier than expected.
We had what boiled down to a staring contest. Skarmory as a species were like Pitbull's, loyal to those that earn their trust but always testing whether or not they were the dominant. To keep one's interest, you couldn't allow them to be the leader.
Minutes passed, and when she realized I wasn't going to budge, Skarmory huffed and slapped her wing onto her Poké Ball in Jasmine's, returning into the sphere and earning a squeak from the teenager.
She turned to me, eyes bright. "I think she likes you!"
"How so?" I asked, stance open.
"Well, she didn't use a Screech on you the moment she met you. That's what she did to me and Johnny when we first met."
"Yup," Johnny nodded. "Skarmory's pretty mean, but she's strong enough to back it up."
They then had me follow them into a different room on the other side of the stadium. It was an office, with curious gadgets all around. "My dad's," Jasmine said, standing in front of a large machine.
A trading machine.
It was on wheels, so she rolled it back to the stadium. There, she asked Johnny and I to release our Pokémon.
Arakh emerged in a flare of light, looking around curiously. An Onix appeared at his side, rumbling in place.
Jasmine handed the pair of them a metal cylinder, and I understood. This was a Metal Coat, the held item that would evolve them.
Arakh took the item with no hesitation, as did the Onix. They were returned soon after, and Jasmine had Johnny perform the first trade. Her Gligar's Ultra Ball was place on a divot in the machine meant to hold Poké Balls, and Onix's Heavy Ball was place on the divot on the other side. A flash of light and a stream of sound whirled, and in the span of a few seconds the Heavy Ball was on Jasmines side whilst the Ultra Ball was on Johnny's.
Jasmine had me come forward then, placing Skarmory's Ultra Ball inside of the divot on her side. I slowly approached, the finality of what I was about to do hitting me hard. But I said I was going to do it, and I meant it. I place Arakh's Poké Ball inside of the machine and watched as it was replaced with Skarmory's Ultra Ball. My Pokédex beeped from my fanny pack, and after looking through it, I saw that it acknowledged that I had captured a Skarmory.
That was it, the deed was done.
"I know this was hard for you," Jasmine said, tucking her new Poké Balls into a pocket in her dress. "But I think you made the right choice."
"It's pretty late though," Johnny yawned, wiping at his eyes. "Why don't you crash here for the rest of the night? We can get some grub tomorrow and maybe have a battle."
That, that sounded nice.
.
The next morning came easily enough. We didn't get a ton of sleep, crashing for only a few hours. I guess I wasn't the only one that liked to get up early. I got the chance to meet Jasmines dad, a guy named Jonas, the current Gym Leader. And aging man, I could see he was on the cusp of retirement, which made Jasmine's young ascension all the more understandable.
As we were eating food, cereal and milk, the breakfast of champions, I received a text. Liza had contacted me.
Where are you? she asked.
Olivine Gym, I answered.
You need to come back here immediately, she said.
What's up? I typed back.
The end of your fostering, was her reply.
Winter/Pidgeot – Male
Moves: Tackle, Gust, Sand Attack, Agility, Double Team, Whirlwind, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Steel Wing, Twister, Fly, Hyper Beam, Sunny Day, Heat Wave
Ability: Keen Eye
?/Skarmory – Female
Moves: Steel Wing, Wing Attack, Fly, Cut, Peck, Screech, Metal Claw, Metal Sound, Slash, Night Shade, Steel Wing, Icy Wind, Sky Attack
Ability: Sturdy
Umber/Delibird – Female
Moves: Present, Icy Wing, Peck, Rest, Attract, Ice Beam, Hail, Blizzard
Ability: Hustle
Viserion/Dratini – Egg
Moves: Unknown
Ability: ?
?/? – Egg
Moves: Unknown
Ability: ?
?/Gligar – Male
Moves: Sludge Bomb, Slash, Poison Sting, Metal Claw, Dark Pulse
Ability: Sand Veil
Jon Snow – Male
Date: Sep 11
Badges: N/A
Pokémon: Pidgeot, Skarmory, Delibird, Gligar, Dratini(Egg), ?(Egg)
Currency: 19670
週次パワーステータス
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