Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than the OCs I create.
Route 209
- Souta -
A couple of hours after watching our first official gym battle, I decided to head into Route 209 for some training with Dennis. After watching the battle, he was quite eager to battle as well. As a Niffler previously, he was only hostile or fought anything that was trying to take his treasure, but with the species change to a Pokémon, he seemed to like the idea of battling other Pokémon without needing to be provoked. I came to the conclusion that Pokémon instinctively want to battle in order to get stronger and/or to eventually evolve.
Route 209 was quite a beautiful route; to my right was a large forest. I was unsure how deep it went, but I heard most people avoided going too far in, as some of the Pokémon in there were older and could be quite territorial. It was usually left to a team of rangers to make sure that there were no issues deeper inside.
To my left were large sections of tall grass that eventually reached another forest, which didn't go as deep as the one on my right and was safer to travel through if you didn't mind being stopped by wild Pokémon every so often.
The direction I was going led to Solaceon Town – not that I was heading there myself, just in the general direction – but before I even reached Solaceon Town, I had to travel through a few bridges that crossed a long connecting river. From there, I would need to travel through a few deep depressions in the earth until I eventually passed the hallowed tower and into Solaceon Town.
But that was for another time; where I was going was a small island surrounded by the river but still connected by bridges. It had a few trees and some tall grass. I thought it would be the perfect place to train and hopefully find Pokémon willing to battle.
I decided to buy some potions and a mix of berries before heading out here. I was planning to heal the Pokémon I asked to battle and offer a berry as a reward. It might seem silly to heal them since Pokémon would be willing to battle anyway, but it was different in the wild; after a battle, Pokémon tend to be vulnerable from the loss of energy that protects them, and in the wild, this could lead to death for them.
The world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows like you would expect from a childhood game; it was very real. Pokémon hunted other Pokémon for food; they all didn't just live off berries, so I felt it was fair to offer healing in exchange for practice with Dennis. The berries, on the other hand, were a reward for their help.
Stepping off the bridge onto the island, I looked around and decided this is exactly the place that I needed. The small plot of land I found myself on wasn't large by any means, but it wasn't too small; it would still take a bit of walking to get from one side to the other. I also noticed quite a few Pokémon going about their day, some even eyeing me warily.
Grabbing Dennis's Poké Ball off my belt, I released him. He decided he wanted to stay inside until we reached where we needed to be; whatever technology was used for the Poké Balls, he found them to be quite comfortable.
"Nif, Nifflit." He says, looking around curiously, before tapping his tail on the ground and digging down before I could say anything.
After a couple of minutes, he appeared pulling out a few ores from his pouch that he proceeded to clean with vigour. Finally satisfied with his new shiny ores, he stashed them back into his pouch and looked at me with innocent eyes.
Shaking my head, I decide to just let it be; he's always done his own thing. At least he's not trying to steal people's jewellery again. Looking towards him, I say, "As you can already see, we've arrived at the spot I thought we could train. There are quite a few Pokémon here from what I could see, so it will be good practice for you. I know you wanted to battle anyway, but I picked up some spicy poffins that you like and will give you them based on how well you do."
He was nodding along with what I was saying until he heard the words 'spicy poffins', and his eyes gleamed with an intensity I only saw when it involved his treasures.
He turned around and started heading towards the nearest Pokémon he could see with a fire in his eyes. Laughing, I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck before he could get any further away from me.
"I know you're excited for the poffins, but you can't just start attacking them. We're going to look for Pokémon who want to battle, okay?"
He just nodded and pointed as if to say, 'Hurry up.'
Smirking at his eagerness, I make my way towards the nearest Pokémon I saw, which was a Bidoof who was now eyeing me cautiously now that I was making my way towards it.
Seeing this, I showed him my empty hands and stayed at a respectful distance before saying, "Hi there, I'm looking to get some practice battles in with my partner and wondered if you would like to join us. I will provide a couple of berries afterwards for the trouble and heal you as well. What do you think?"
Intrigued by the offer, Bidoof makes his way towards me while nodding and saying, "Doof, Bid, Bidoof."
"Great, follow me and we can get started."
Heading back over to Dennis, who was staring down Bidoof and shadow boxing, clearly pumped up for the reward.
Crouching next to Dennis, I say, "Right, I won't give any orders this time around. I want to see how you do without my input. Remember to use all the skills you've learnt, ok?"
Stepping back as he nods, I look towards the Bidoof, who also seemed to be ready.
"This is a practice battle and will end when one of the others faints. Are you ready?" I say getting a nod from both.
"Battle!"
Much to Dennis' surprise, Bidoof closed the gap immediately with a quick attack, launching him back. Digging his claws into the ground, he steadies himself while keeping an eye on the Bidoof, who goes for another quick attack. Seeing this, Dennis used Dig to avoid it.
Annoyed, Bidoof looks around for his opponent, expecting an attack from behind. Instead, Dennis comes out from underneath the Bidoof, who ends up taking the attack straight to the body, which launches it into the air. As it lands, Dennis immediately closes in with a tackle, keeping the Bidoof off balance. Before Bidoof could get back up, Dennis ends it with a scratch, which faints the Bidoof.
"Good job, Dennis; it's over. You can come back now." I shout as Dennis begins pumping his little fists in the air over his victory.
Walking over to the Bidoof, I grab a potion from my bag. I follow the instructions and spray the whole thing all over it. From what I found out, this world didn't have anything called 'revives'; instead, potions and their upgraded versions boosted the healing and type energy restoration of a fainted Pokémon. When a Pokémon faints, it's because it ran out of type energy that's used to protect it from major damage.
If anyone is caught using their Pokémon to attack a fainted Pokémon, it can lead to some very serious punishments.
Waking up, the Bidoof looks around before remembering what it was doing. Grabbing a couple of each berry I brought with me out of my bag, I let it choose its favourite berry before thanking it for the battle and letting it leave 2 berries richer.
Turning back to Dennis I see him eyeing me expectantly, getting a laugh from me.
"I'll give you one now, but you'll have to wait until we're finished with today's training for the last one, okay?" I say, to which he nods and holds out his hands. Opening the bag up again, I hand him a poffin, which he eats slowly, savouring the flavour.
After finally finishing his poffin, we found a few more Pokémon to battle with. This time I was making calls during the battle instead of just watching. After every battle we would go over what went well and what didn't and even go over some combinations, such as using sand attack before going straight into dig. This left the other Pokémon blinded for a moment and confused at where Dennis had gone. He also got down the use of defence curl, and with the basis of sand attack, he was slowly working towards mud slap. Once he managed to get that down, I was going to introduce him to mud shot and mud bomb.
While we were battling and training combinations and new moves, I noticed a water Pokémon watching us. They had been there for a while now; every time I went to look towards them, they would hide deeper into the water. What surprised me was what Pokémon it was; after managing to get a few glimpses of it, I realised it was a Feebas. They were notoriously rare to find and were spotted deep in Mt Coronet, so how one got here was a shock to me.
I was confused at first since it kept hiding too quickly, and I could only catch a bit of its colouring. I was wracking my brain trying to think of a Pokémon with lavender scales until I managed to get a better look at the Pokémon and realised what it was: a shiny Feebas. I was shocked and excited. The evolution of Feebas has always been a favourite of mine; even if it wasn't a shiny, I would have added it to my team, which is what I planned to do, but first I had to get it to stop running away.
The few times I managed to get a good look out of the corner of my eye; it seemed lonely when it was watching us train. Feebas usually form schools and are known to stay around one another, but this one seemed to be on its own. My first thought was that it had been ostracised due to its colouring, but how it managed to end up in this river was beyond me; it wasn't even connected to Mt Coronet.
I sat there for a minute thinking about how to approach before going with the method that hasn't failed me yet: offering berries. Not knowing what berry it might like, I decided to play it safe and offer an Oran Berry.
As I moved closer to the edge of the water slowly, the Feebas had already gone deeper out of view. Since I knew it was watching me from earlier, I decided to sit down and hold out my hand with the berry in while waiting for it to appear at its own time.
I already let Dennis know he could dig about for treasure if he wanted to and if he was in trouble to let me know through our bond so I could summon him to me.
It took some time, but eventually being patient won out; the Feebas edged closer to the surface, wary, but picked up the courage to finally appear. Deciding to let it take its time, I waited; seeing I wasn't trying to do anything, the Feebas finally took the berry and backed away happily chewing on it while watching me.
Seeing as it finished the first berry, I held out a second one. This time the Feebas moved closer without needing to gather the courage again and happily ate the second berry next to me.
"You have lovely lavender scales," which was true; as rare as Feebas was, people couldn't get over the appearance of them. I didn't see them as ugly. I heard a saying before that stuck with me; I can't remember where it was from, but it went, "Beauty is temporary; personality is forever."
Feebas was a Pokémon that endured, and a Feebas that was shown love and the proper respect it deserved transformed from something people were disgusted by to one of the most beautiful Pokémon. People didn't know where Milotic came from since a lot of people didn't care for them properly or just ignored catching Feebas, and if they did they sold them due to rarity, but those that did evolve Feebas probably kept it a secret since if people couldn't put the time in to love a Pokémon no matter its appearance, then they didn't deserve to know.
It was odd but also amusing seeing a fish wiggle and blush after being complimented.
"You look lonely here, and you seemed quite interested in watching us. Would you like to join us? And I don't mean in training, but as my Pokémon, you'll get to go on journeys with us to lots of new and unknown places, and you won't have to worry about being alone again since you'll be with me and anyone else who joins us, so what do you say?"
When I mentioned it looked lonely, its mood had dropped until I offered it a place on the team, which had its feeling flip straight to happy as it started wiggling again. Having already grabbed an empty ball from my pocket, I unshrunk it and held it towards the Feebas, letting it decide for itself.
It stayed still for a moment, stuck on the decision, before looking towards me. I just smiled at the Pokémon, who wiggled a few times before bopping against the button on the Poké Ball. It only wiggled once before locking in the capture.
Releasing the Feebas into the water, I smiled as I rubbed its head between its eyes, much to its delight.
"Thank you for trusting me. I promise we'll show everyone how strong and beautiful you truly are." I say getting a few more happy wiggles in return.
It's a bit early to perform a bond, so I'll wait until they are more comfortable with me before offering. I also need to find out if Feebas is a boy or a girl; I don't know enough about Pokémon to know if their markings are different.
While I was talking to Feebas, Dennis decided to finally return; only this time he had wet mud stuck to his fur and thought it would be a good idea to shake it off right next to me.
Finished with shaking the mud off himself, he looks towards me and realises his mistake. He puts on the most innocent expression he can before reaching into his pouch and offering me an item he must've picked up while digging. Curious, I decide to take a look at what it was.
Taking hold of the item, I knew what it was instantly: a heart scale. They are said to be quite rare and glow faintly with a rainbow colour, but how did they end up underground? These things are usually shed by Luvdisc. "How many did you find?" I asked.
He looked nervous that I might try to take the rest, so I reassured him, "Don't worry, I won't take the rest away from you; I just wanted to know." He sighed with relief before holding up 3 of his claws.
3 of them underground, "Where did you find them?" I ask which gets him animated as he points towards the river and back to the ground before making digging motions.
It turns out there is an underground waterway link to the underneath of the river; it took a bit to get to but wasn't too deep, and confirming it with Feebas, I was able to find out it was a large network that connected to various spots in Sinnoh, one of them being Mt Coronet, so Dennis had managed to find the heart scales that shed from passing Luvdisc in the past.
After introducing Dennis to his new teammate, which he was quite happy with, as he tried offering ore as a sign of friendship – not that Feebas could do anything with it – I told him not to worry, as I had an idea for the scale he gave me as a present from both of us.
We decided to spend the rest of the day training and showing Feebas what we could do, and we even managed to get Feebas working on Tackle, which was slow-going, but they were showing signs of being able to use the move slightly.
While training I also managed to pick up quite a few extracts that I would sort out when I got back to the Pokémon centre.
[Split]
Hearthome City – Pokémon Centre
- Souta -
After today's events I was finally back in my room at the centre. Laid out before me are the extracts I had gathered today, all ordered and ready to be put away into my briefcase. What I managed to extract were:
5x Type Energy: Normal
4x Type Energy: Flying
4x Type Energy: Water
2x Type Energy: Grass
3x Type Energy: Poison
1x Type Energy: Rock
2x Starly Spirit
3x Magikarp Spirit
It was quite a selection I managed to pick up in the time that I was there; most of them came from the island I was training on, either after healing the Pokémon after a battle or extracting as they took a berry from me. The grass and poison extracts came from a family of Budew and Roselia, while the rock extract came from a Bonsly who quickly ran away after getting his berry.
I also decided to pick up the spirit extracts of some Pokémon so I could test what the mystic fruit it made said. I was curious to see if evolution was a thing for the consumer or if they were stuck as a Magikarp or Starly once they ate it.
Other than that, I had Feebas checked by Nurse Joy to make sure everything was ok, which it was.
-Flashback-
- Souta -
Finally, my turn in line, I'm greeted by Nurse Joy, who was smiling and said, "Hello Souta, what can I do for you today?"
"Hello, I've caught a new Pokémon and would like a check-up to make sure everything's all good; just to let you know, their scales are a different colour from what I know of the Pokémon." I said the last part in more of a whisper to her, getting a serious nod in return.
"I'll check over them personally. You needn't be concerned about their colouring; it's very rare, but it happens from time to time due to a genetic variation that affects the pigmentation of the Pokémon. Other than the change in colour, there is no effect on the overall health of a Pokémon. Not to scare you, but I would advise being extremely careful of Pokémon hunters; they are a nasty lot that will steal and sell Pokémon to the highest bidder based on rarity." She said, scowling, as she mentioned Pokémon hunters.
"It might come as a surprise, but Professor Rowan has asked me to pass on a message. He left his number and asked if you could contact him, as he is highly interested in your Pokémon and said he would go over the details some more once he was in contact with you." She said as she passed a slip of paper with a number on it.
"That was quick; we only went over his check-up today." I said, slightly shocked at how quickly the word had spread.
"It's understandable; Professor Rowan is the foremost expert on Pokémon evolution. A man of such stature tends to keep an eye on the Pokémon database for any such changes, so as soon as word reached him of a new Pokémon, it was within reason for him to reach out to you as soon as possible."
"That's understandable. I'll give him a call tomorrow. It's a bit embarrassing, but I also wanted to ask how you tell the gender of certain Pokémon. The Feebas I caught today I couldn't really tell what they were." I say, scratching my cheek.
"A variant Feebas? Don't tell me you went deep into Mt Coronet with only 1 Pokémon." She said, glaring towards me.
"Woah, woah, no, I promise, I found them in the river while I was on the small island at Route 209. It turns out there is a deep underground waterway that links to Mt Coronet, which is how Feebas ended up on Route 209. The Feebas was alone when I caught them." I said quickly, trying to appease the pinkette.
Glare softening, she says, "Sorry, I've heard and seen many Pokémon and their trainers who thought they could venture deep into Mt Coronet go missing or be found by the local Pokémon rangers." She shakes her head sadly.
"As for your question, it's usually based on their markings or smaller things like the length of their leaves, tails, etc. A Pokédex helps with that, as it scans the Pokémon, but not everyone is able to get one due to it being handed out by a professor to their sponsors for research purposes. You can get a similar app on a PokéGear or Rotom Phone; while not as in-depth as a Pokédex, they still provide basic information. The final option is a printed hard copy of the Pokédex that gets updated yearly with changes; it's not as popular due to the size and weight of it, but it has all the information you would need," she says, listing options for me to look into.
"Thanks, I'll check them out. I'll pop down later to pick up Feebas." I said, smiling and waving as I left.
-Flashback End-
After picking up Feebas earlier, I was able to find out it was female and very healthy. I also asked about how she was able to battle outside of water, and it turns out water pokemon without the ability to walk on land keep themselves slightly afloat with water-type energy. They don't hover far from the ground, so they are still vulnerable to ground-type moves unless they dodge or use a move to avoid it in return.
After cleaning everything up and putting away the extracts, I jumped into bed and drifted off to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
After breakfast I headed over to the phone booths to make a call to Professor Rowan. Sitting down, I grabbed the green detachable phone and input the number into the green phone box on the wall. As it rang, the centre of the screen showed a rotating Poké Ball.
The call connected as Professor Rowan appeared on the screen in front of me and says, "Professor Rowan speaking. How may I help you?"
"Hello, Professor, my name's Souta, and I was asked by Nurse Joy to call you in regard to my Pokémon."
"Ah right, my apologies, young man. I wasn't expecting you to call so soon. As you may already be aware, I specialise in the evolution of Pokémon, and with you catching a Pokémon not yet seen in our region, I would like to document the evolutionary stages of this new line. If it isn't a bother to you, then I would like to go over everything at my lab in the coming week."
Thinking it over, I can't seem to see an issue with his offer; he'll most likely want to get some data on Dennis and ask me to record and track everything leading up to his evolution.
"I don't have any problems with that; my only issue is transport from Hearthome City to your lab."
"That will be no issue; I will have my Espeon teleport you to the lab and back to Hearthome City once we are done."
"Great, if you could please leave a message with Nurse Joy about which date suits you best since I don't have anything for you to contact me on at the moment, thank you for your time, Professor."
"No, thank you, young man. I look forward to seeing you in person." With that the call ended.
The professor was stern and to the point; he's clearly looking forward to meeting Dennis. Hopefully we can get something good out of it; Dennis won't be happy going through more tests, so I'll have to pick up more poffins for him.
Putting the phone back in place, I make my way over to the cafe to grab a drink to go as I overhear a few trainers talking about something.
"Have you heard?"
"About what?"
"People have been saying they've heard howling and the flashes of red coming from the deepest part of the woods in Route 209."
"Really? What about the rangers? Surely, they've done something about it."
"That's the thing: when the rangers come back, they say there's nothing there, but people have been saying they can still hear and see it sometimes."
Interesting. I wonder what could be causing the rumours. I never heard or saw anything myself when going past there yesterday. I could check it out; I don't have anything else to do other than train and extract more until I go to see Professor Rowan, and I'm confident enough with my magic to make sure nothing happens to us.
Plan in mind, I decide to take a trip in the next few days to the woods to investigate the rumours, but before that I have a few things to pick up at the store: some grooming supplies for Feebas, more berries and, as expensive as it will be, a water-type TM for Feebas. The earlier Feebas is able to get some moves down to battle, the more I can build her confidence up.
I also need to check out the contest shop to see what I can do with the heart scale since I want to make it into a welcoming gift for Feebas from me and Dennis; I'm sure she would appreciate it.
Hope you enjoyed reading. ^^
A bit of a shorter chapter, but I was just setting up the scene for the coming chapters, the rumours in the woods and the meetup with Professor Rowan.
We've got a Feebas joining the party; they are one of my favourite Pokémon. They have the classic ugly duckling story around them, and I love that they are a Pokémon that endures to become something more. I had to make it shiny; Milotic gets beautiful blue fins as well as a black and gold tail.
Let me know what you think; feedback is appreciated and helps me improve, with this being my first story.